A start-up investment group backed by Sir Terry Leahy that secured close to £11 million in emergency pandemic loans is being scrutinised over a series of insolvencies set to cost taxpayers about £2 million, the London Times reported. We Are Nova, which is under investigation by the government’s Insolvency Service over alleged misuse of the bounce back loan scheme, is the subject of separate inquiries over subsidiaries that collapsed before the pandemic.

Britain’s economy grew at the slowest pace in a year during the first quarter as retailers and manufacturers were hurt by supply disruptions and higher prices, raising concerns that the country may be headed for a recession, the Associated Press reported. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, rose 0.8% in the period, slowing from 1.3% in the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics said Thursday. Monthly estimates indicate GDP shrank by 0.1% in March.

Britain and the European Union were once again at loggerheads over Brexit on Wednesday, after the U.K. government ramped up threats to scrap parts of its trade treaty with the bloc, saying the rules are blocking the formation of a new government in Northern Ireland, the Associated Press reported. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the government would “not shy away from taking action” if it can’t reach agreement with the bloc.

Morrisons now looks set to clinch a last ditch deal to buy the convenience store chain McColl's, BBC News reported. The supermarket has been in a two-way battle with EG Group, the Blackburn-based petrol station empire owned by the billionaire Issa brothers. McColl's is poised to go into administration, but in what's known as a pre-pack deal the business will immediately be sold to a new owner. McColl's has more than a thousand small stores and 16,000 workers. No formal announcement has been made but it is understood that Morrisons has secured the winning bid.

Convenience retailer McColl’s has announced it has entered into administration after its lenders said it did not want to extend banking agreements that were keeping the business going, Credit Strategy reported. PwC has been appointed as administrators, with the professional services firm intending to sell the business to a third-party purchaser "as soon as possible". Following this announcement, Sky News has reported that Asda’s co-owners the Issa brothers are expected to agree a deal to purchase the firm which would rescue "the bulk of the company".

Former German tennis star Boris Becker could be deported from Britain in the wake of his conviction for violating the Insolvency Act, UPI.com reported. Becker was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for hiding millions of pounds worth of assets during a bankruptcy. He could be deported because British law allows for any foreign national convicted of a crime and given a prison sentence to be considered for deportation. Becker was charged with hiding more than $3 million in assets after filing for bankruptcy in 2017.

The Bank of England sent a stark warning that Britain risks a double-whammy of a recession and inflation above 10% as it raised interest rates on Thursday to their highest since 2009, hiking by quarter of a percentage point to 1%, Reuters reported. The pound fell by more than a cent against the U.S. dollar to hit its lowest level since mid-2020, below $1.24, as the gloominess of the BoE's new forecasts for the world's fifth-largest economy caught investors by surprise. They also trimmed bets on the central bank hiking rates aggressively this year.

Britain banned all service sector exports to Russia on Wednesday and imposed sanctions on 63 individuals and organisations, its latest wave of measures to increase pressure on Moscow to reverse course and pull back from Ukraine, Reuters reported. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been a leading supporter of Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, framing London's sanctions against Moscow as a way of punishing President Vladimir Putin over a war the Russian leader describes as a "special operation" to denazify its neighbour.

Inflation was already on the rise in Britain and elsewhere before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, triggered by rising natural gas prices and supply-chain shortages after pandemic lockdowns. The war has abruptly pushed the price of oil and gas even higher, the New York Times reported. Now consumer prices in Britain are rising at their fastest rate in 30 years, and wages are failing to keep up, putting a squeeze on household incomes not seen since records began in 1956.