The FSB is calling on chancellor Philip Hammond to help the small business community which is buckling under the burdens of Brexit uncertainty, business rates hikes, pension contribution increases, Making Tax Digital for VAT and the late payment crisis, Economia reported. The small business trade body wants him to use his Spring Statement next week to take action, including on his promise in the 2018 Spring Statement to address “the scourge of late payment”.

Blackpool's recently-appointed board will have the opportunity to review their financial situation before the English Football League decides whether an insolvency penalty is required, the BBC reported. The club were put into receivership by the High Court on 13 February. It followed the removal of former owner Owen Oyston and his daughter Natalie Christopher from the board, when new directors were appointed by receivers. Such a breach of insolvency regulations could result in a 12-point deduction.

Talks between British Prime Minister Theresa May’s top government lawyer and European Union negotiators to win concessions from the bloc on Brexit ended with no agreement in Brussels on Tuesday, Reuters reported. May has sent Attorney General Geoffrey Cox to seek changes to her deal in a last-ditch bid to get it through parliament and smooth Britain’s departure from the European Union. The talks between Cox, Britain’s Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and the EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier ended with no agreement after more than three hours on Tuesday.

Mrs Brown’s Boys actor Daniel O’Carroll was among 73 individuals and firms who made settlements in the latest list of tax defaulters. Other actors from the show were last year linked to an offshore tax structure that helped them avoid hundreds of thousands of euro in tax. Details of the structure, which involved trusts in the Seychelles and Mauritius, emerged as part of the so-called Paradise Papers. The latest tax defaulters’ list, published on Tuesday by Revenue, provides details of 73 taxpayers who have made settlements totalling €12.7 million in the final quarter of last year.

Prime Minister Theresa May will on Monday set out plans for a 1.6 billion pound fund to help to boost economic growth in Brexit-supporting communities, particularly in the north of England, Reuters reported. The “Stronger Towns Fund”, details of which appeared in newspapers last month, is seen by many as part of May’s efforts to win support for her Brexit deal from Labour MPs who represent areas that voted strongly in favour of leaving the European Union.

ILK Bennett is preparing to appoint administrators after its owner struggled to find a new financial backer for the loss-making fashion chain, potentially putting jobs at risk in both the UK and the Republic, the Irish Times reported. Famous for its signature kitten heels, which start at £175 (€203) per pair, the company was founded by the entrepreneur Linda Bennett in 1990.

Britain has just four weeks left as a member of the European Union. Or maybe not. Staying weeks, months, even years longer is the talk of London; but such ideas are getting a frosty hearing on the continent, Reuters reported. When Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission, confessed this week to “a certain Brexit fatigue” and his negotiator Michel Barnier said what Britain needs is not time but decisions, they were reflecting a broad impatience that means Britain will struggle to get more than a short delay.

Patisserie Valerie’s top management has been placed on leave two weeks after the collapsed cafe chain operator was bought out of administration, according to the Financial Times, Reuters reported. Chief Executive Officer Stephen Francis who was appointed in November of last year and former Starbucks executive Rhys Iley who joined as the chief commercial officer after an accounting scandal was unearthed at the company are both on leave, the Financial Times report said.

A rogue company director branded one of the worst perpetrators in the nuisance calling game has been banned from running companies in the UK for eight years, The Register reported. Welshman Richard Jones was responsible for setting up two companies that fell foul of Brit privacy watchdog the ICO after breaking direct marketing laws. Your Money Rights was slapped with a £350,000 fine in September 2017 for making 146 million nuisance PPI calls – the highest it had issued at the time for a breach of Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

Britain’s banks would be resilient to a chaotic Brexit, even if this leads to a spike in bad loans that hits their profits, credit rating agency Moody’s said, Reuters reported. Lenders’ efforts to boost their capital buffers since the financial crisis has put them in a good position to weather any disruption caused by a no-deal Brexit, Moody’s said in a report on Wednesday.