Britain should respect post-Brexit trade rules or else face consequences, a German official said on Thursday as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was "crazy" to have checks on goods heading from Britain only to Northern Ireland, Reuters reported. Tensions over the Northern Ireland protocol, signed as part of Britain's exit from the European Union, flared again after Belfast ordered an immediate halt on Wednesday on checks on agri-foods, earning a rebuke from Brussels.

Northern Ireland's Agriculture Minister on Wednesday ordered a halt from midnight to all post-Brexit checks on goods coming into the region from the rest of the United Kingdom, a move Dublin and some of his partners in government said was unlawful, Reuters reported. Edwin Poots, a member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which opposes the Northern Ireland protocol mandating such checks, cited legal advice that the measures should not have been introduced without approval from the regional government.

Britons will learn the scale of the financial pain they face on Thursday when the energy regulator Ofgem announces an increase to its price cap, with under-pressure households expected to see bills soaring by about 50%, Reuters reported. Ofgem will announce the new cap at 1100 GMT - an hour before the Bank of England is expected to hike interest rates again to tame surging inflation.

A group of U.K. manufacturers said its energy bills are set to soar this year, warning of potential closures, curbs in production and higher costs for consumers, Bloomberg News reported. Net Zero North West -- a consortium of industrial firms in northwest England -- said in a statement that four of its members are facing a collective bill of as much as 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) this year, about 65% higher than in 2020.

U.K. consumer borrowing remained resilient in December, shaking off concerns about the omicron variant of the coronavirus, Bloomberg News reported. The Bank of England said unsecured lending rose by 831 million pounds ($1.1 billion), double the pace economists had expected. New mortgage approvals surged to 71,015, defying forecasts for a drop. Consumer borrowing was not far off November’s level of 999 million pounds, which was the strongest month since the lifting of restrictions in July 2020.

British house price growth accelerated in January, marking the strongest start to any year since 2005, mortgage lender Nationwide said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. House prices jumped by 0.8% in January, following a 1.1% increase in December. A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to a 0.6% increase last month. House prices stood 11.2% higher than their level in January 2021, the fastest annual growth since June and again outstripping the consensus forecast for a rise of 10.8%.

Up to £500 million in Bounce Back loans were given to companies which then went bust, the Mirror reported. Almost 10,000 businesses have stopped trading or gone into administration after taking taxpayer-funded cash to help them in the pandemic. The staggering sum is on top of the £5.8billion extracted by fraudsters from the emergency Covid schemes like furlough and Eat Out To Help Out. The new details emerged after the minister for counter-fraud, Lord Agnew, resigned in anger at the Government’s inability to tackle scams.

A U.K. tribunal against KPMG LLP and several of its former employees raises questions whether junior auditors can be held liable for alleged misconduct, a rare case that comes as the Financial Reporting Council works to broaden its enforcement efforts, the Wall Street Journal reported. The audit and accounting regulator’s disciplinary tribunal, which on Monday is set to enter its fourth week, centers on the claim that the professional-services firm forged documents and provided misleading information during audit inspections.

A record number of companies in England and Wales went into a voluntary form of insolvency in the final three months of last year, as COVID support and protection from creditors was phased out, Reuters reported. During the last quarter of 2021, there were 4,175 creditors’ voluntary liquidations - where directors agree to wind up a company without a formal court order - the highest number since records began in 1960, new government figures showed.

Britain hopes to secure significant progress in post-Brexit trade talks with the European Union by February and win the support of pro-British unionists in Northern Ireland opposed to the current arrangements, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said, Reuters reported. Truss was speaking on Thursday during a visit to Belfast, where she spoke to politicians and business people about their concerns about post-Brexit restrictions on trade between the British region and the rest of the United Kingdom. "I want to make significant progress by February. That's important.