Billionaire steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal’s younger brother Pramod Mittal was due to be automatically freed from bankruptcy in Britain on Wednesday but has had his bankruptcy suddenly extended by the London high court for failing to cooperate with the bankruptcy trustee.

HM Revenue and Customs will take a "cautious approach" in enforcing debt collections from businesses struggling financially due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK Government has said, Irish News reported. UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in a letter to the Institute of Directors and insolvency specialists R3 said enforcement by the taxman will be based on whether a company has been engaging with HMRC, rather than due to its inability to pay.

Britain’s economic recovery is continuing apace and inflation is now expected to climb even higher than previously predicted, but the Bank of England’s policymakers on Thursday stood firm and saw little need to scale back their large monetary stimulus program, the New York Times reported. That is, all but one. In his final meeting, Andy Haldane, the central bank’s chief economist, cast the lone dissenting vote, arguing that the bank should pare back its bond-buying program because of the improved economic outlook and rising price pressures.

The U.K. government has told business leaders it will take a "cautious approach" to firms that owe it money in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the BBC News reported. The message came in a letter from Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to the Institute of Directors and R3, which represents insolvency firms. In the letter, first reported by the Financial Times, he said enforcing insolvency would remain a last resort. The government has spent billions protecting the economy from Covid.

Parliament should consider toughening up the rules on who can take control of a bank in light of what happened to Wyelands Bank following the collapse of Greensill Capital, Bank of England Deputy Governor Sam Woods said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta's metals-to-finance empire GFG Alliance took control of Wyelands Bank in 2016. Wyelands financed GFG Alliance that was closely linked to financing company Greensill Capital, which went bust earlier this year. Concerns emerged in 2018 over the way Wyelands was lending to GFG, Woods said.

British pilots, cabin crew, travel agents and other workers are urging politicians to save the summer holiday season by reopening routes abroad or risk destroying tens of thousands of jobs as companies fail, Reuters reported. Workers from the travel industry demonstrated across Britain on Wednesday. Protesters outside parliament held banners saying "Speak up for travel" as pilots and air stewardesses from British Airways, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic lined up in full uniform, to highlight the threat to their jobs from the government's strict rules.

An independent assessment by Ernst and Young reiterated on Monday that subprime lender Provident Financial’s doorstep lending unit will likely face insolvency if its 50-million-pound settlement plan is not endorsed by a UK court, Reuters reported. Provident said on Monday that the division, which lent to people who are turned away by mainstream banks, was placed into a managed run-off last month, after a surge in customer complaints against it. Rival Amigo’s rescue plan was rejected by the court in May.

An arm of Sanjeev Gupta's industrial empire which counts Jaguar Land Rover as its main customer faces collapse within days amid last-ditch negotiations with its lender, Sky News reported. Sky News has learned that Liberty Aluminium Technologies (LAT) is in detailed talks with Close Brothers in an attempt to avert the division being placed into administration. Sources said on Monday that LAT, which employs 250 people at three UK sites, could be forced into insolvency proceedings as soon as this week, although there remains hope that such an outcome could be avoided, they said.

British retail sales fell unexpectedly last month as a lifting of lockdown restrictions encouraged spending in restaurants rather than shops, according to official data, Reuters reported. Retail sales fell 1.4% between April and May, the Office for National Statistics said. Food stores suffered the biggest hit, with a 5.7% drop in sales. Separately on Friday supermarket chain Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, reported a sharp slowdown in underlying UK sales growth in its first quarter.

British supermarket group Morrisons has rejected a proposed 5.52 billion pound ($7.62 billion) cash offer from U.S. private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), saying that it is far too low, Reuters reported. Britain's fourth largest grocer by sales after Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda, said it received the "unsolicited, highly conditional non-binding" proposal of 230 pence a share on Monday. The board of Bradford, northern England-based Morrisons rejected the proposal on Thursday.