A council has terminated two multi-million pound government-funded regeneration projects after an audit of one highlighted concerns over governance and finances, BBC.com reported. Somerset Council ended the Life Factory and Glastonbury Food and Regenerative Farming Centre projects, both Glastonbury Town Deal schemes, in November. In a new report, the authority says it is seeking repayment of more than £2.4m in grant funding from Red Brick Building Centre Ltd, a community benefit society (CBS) that was the grant recipient of both projects.

U.K. joblessness climbed in the three months through October as signs of a softening labor market gathered pace, raising expectations that the Bank of England will cut its benchmark interest rate at its final meeting of the year this week, the Wall Street Journal reported. The headline rate of unemployment crept up to 5.1% in August-October, from 5.0% in the three months through September, Britain’s Office for National Statistics said Tuesday. The BOE’s rate-setting committee is split.

The U.K.’s Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal in a long-running $13 billion lawsuit brought by Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) investors, supporting lower-court rulings that narrowed claims against major crypto exchanges over the token’s delisting, CoinDesk.com reported. In a brief decision released on Dec. 8, the court said BSV Claims Limited's “application does not raise an arguable point of law or a point of law of general public importance”.

Millions of Britons will be allowed to dabble in a risky form of cryptocurrency trading under fresh plans from the City watchdog to regulate digital assets, The Telegraph reported. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Tuesday said that retail investors will be permitted to access crypto borrowing services, where individuals trade assets such as Bitcoin that they have borrowed but do not actually own. Read more.

The U.K. economy contracted for a second straight month in October, cementing expectations that the Bank of England will lower its key interest rate later this week, the Wall Street Journal reported. Economic activity dipped 0.1% on month in October, the Office for National Statistics said Friday, after a 0.1% fall in September. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected a 0.1% increase. The contraction in October makes a rate cut by the BOE at its next meeting on Thursday more likely, as concerns over growth mount.

A cross-party coalition of U.K. lawmakers has called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to step in and ensure Britain’s regulatory framework for stablecoins doesn’t stifle innovation or drive capital overseas, warning that the Bank of England’s current proposals risk risks undermining the City of London's appeal as the global financial hub, CoinDesk.com reported. In a letter dated Dec.

Nationwide has been hit with a record fine after failing to spot a customer’s £27.3m furlough fraud, The Telegraph reported. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has ordered the British lender to pay £44m as a result of its failings, which included the incident during Covid. The City watchdog revealed in a ruling on Friday that a Nationwide customer deposited £26m into their current account over the space of eight days, having received 24 furlough payments totalling £27.3m over 13 months. HMRC was able to recover £26.5m from the fraud, but roughly £800,000 remains unaccounted for.

Leon is preparing to shut 20 restaurants and cut jobs as its co-founder scrambles to turn around the business, The Telegraph reported. John Vincent, who repurchased the fast food chain in October, said Leon would reduce its estate from 70 to 50 locations across the country. The struggling chain has hired administrators to oversee a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), a legally sanctioned restructuring that will allow the business to push through closures.

Manchester United swung to a first-quarter net loss on Thursday, weighed by lower broadcasting revenue and ticket sales as the club sits out European competitions this season, Reuters reported. The Old Trafford club posted a net loss of 6.6 million pounds ($8.83 million) for the quarter ended September 30, compared with a profit of 1.4 million pounds a year ago. Total revenue for the quarter fell 2%, with player and staff wages falling 8.2% due to job cuts.

Homeowners have taken on the largest amount of risky mortgages since 2008 as new buyers stretch the budget to get on the housing ladder, The Telegraph reported. The proportion of home loans made with deposits of less than 10pc has jumped to 7.4pc of all mortgage advances, according to Bank of England figures on Tuesday – the highest level since the second quarter of 2008. This was 0.8 percentage points higher than a year ago and echoes mortgage debt levels not seen since the run-up to the catastrophic 2007-08 financial crash.