U.K. retail sales rose last month, a boon to the economy which is suffering from high inflation and slowing activity, the Wall Street Journal reported. Retail volumes were 0.5% higher on month in August, the same increase as July, the Office for National Statistics said Friday. Clothing stores, butchers and bakers, and non-store retailing improved in August, which some retailers attributed to the good weather, the ONS said. However, on a three-month basis, sales fell 0.1%. The Bank of England held rates at this week’s meeting, after inflation stayed well above target in August.

Rachel Reeves has been handed a £3bn blow to VAT receipts as the fiscal watchdog warned that cash-strapped consumers could be switching to cheaper food options amid soaring inflation, The Telegraph reported. The Chancellor was forced to borrow £11.4bn more than the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had forecast between April and August, official figures showed. The OBR said this could be blamed on local councils borrowing £2.8bn more than expected during the period, as well as lower-than-expected receipts for the Treasury.

The Bank of England (BoE ) held its main interest rate at 4% on Thursday as inflation in the UK remains stubbornly high, EuroNews.com reported. The decision was widely anticipated, as was the split of votes on the nine-member Monetary Policy Committee. Seven of the panel backed the decision, while two voted for a quarter-point reduction to 3.75%.

A former boss of one of Britain's oldest business groups has been banned from holding company directorships for 11 years after abusing a state-backed emergency loan scheme for businesses struggling during the COVID pandemic, Reuters reported. Britain's Insolvency Service said on Thursday that it had barred Anna Daroy, a 61-year-old former director general of the Institute of Directors (IoD), after she secured two 50,000 pound ($68,085) "Bounce Back" loans for a management consultancy in 2020 when companies were only entitled to one.

UK taxpayers have lost £400m following the collapse of hundreds of startups backed by a heavily criticised Covid-era investment fund launched by Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor, the Guardian reported. The Future Fund spent £1.14bn backing 1,190 companies, some of them of types not usually associated with government portfolios such as the sex party organiser Killing Kittens and the now defunct festival tickets business Pollen. The fund also invested nearly £2m in companies linked to Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty.

Crypto firms in Britain could be exempted from rules that ensure financial services companies act with integrity and in the interests of customers, under new proposals outlined by the Financial Conduct Authority on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The move comes after Britain signalled in April it would cooperate on the best approach towards digital assets with the United States, which has embraced the crypto industry and vowed to roll back regulatory curbs under President Donald Trump.

A Yorkshire scaffolding director has been ordered to fully repay £100,000 in Covid loans plus more than £15,000 interest, or face 12 months in prison, ConstructionNews.co.uk reported. Mark Degnan had already paid back £55,608 before he appeared at Leeds Crown Court on Monday (15 September) but could face 12 months in jail if he fails to repay the remaining £59,578 within six months, according to the Insolvency Service. Officials at the Insolvency Service said that he had “cynically exploited” the Covid loan scheme meant to help small businesses during the pandemic.

Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris has filed an arbitration demand accusing his former financial advisor, Thomas St. John, of stealing $22.5 million intended for real estate investments, MusicBusinessWorldwide.com reported. The legal action, filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that St. John directed the funds instead toward a Hollywood “boondoggle” development project. The timing of Harris’s legal action is particularly striking. It arrives just a few months after US-based company, Thomas St.