Eleven business organisations and insolvency experts have written to chancellor Sajid Javid warning him that prioritising debts owed to HMRC over those of other creditors in insolvencies will have a serious impact on UK economic growth, ICAEW reported. The 11 – which range from ICAEW, the City of London Law Society, R3 and the Chartered Institute of Credit Management, to the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association – make it clear that the proposed change will make it more difficult to rescue businesses.

A panel of bankers will rule on Thursday whether some investors in Thomas Cook’s credit are due a payout under bankruptcy rules, a decision that could smooth a rescue of the world’s oldest travel company, Reuters reported. The British firm, which employs 21,000 people across 16 countries, agreed the key terms of a rescue deal with Chinese shareholder Fosun (1992.HK) last month. But it must be approved by creditors next week. Holders of Credit Default Swaps (CDS), instruments used to insure exposure to credit, are digging in for a payout for their bets against the company.

Thomas Cook Group Plc has filed for Chapter 15 court protection in the U.S. as part of a broader debt restructuring for the U.K. travel agent, Bloomberg News reported. The company’s Chapter 15 petition was filed in the Southern District of New York, court papers dated Sept. 16 show. Law firm Latham & Watkins is representing the company, according to the documents. Chapter 15 of U.S. bankruptcy law shields foreign companies from lawsuits by U.S. creditors while they reorganize in another country. The filing may also trigger the payout of default insurance on Thomas Cook debt.

Some of the UK’s largest banks are in a stand-off with the government over whether they should hand over millions of pounds in compensation to the creditors of people who bought payment protection insurance and later went bankrupt, the Financial Times reported. The Official Receiver, part of the government’s Insolvency Service, submitted tens of thousands of complaints about PPI before a deadline for compensation claims last month.

Thomas Cook’s management team is facing a new challenge in its battle to save the 178-year-old travel group: credit default swaps, the Financial Times reported. The UK-based tour operator agreed the main terms of a £900m rescue deal with its biggest shareholders and lenders last month, after failing to adjust to a big shift by customers from the high street to the internet. But now the company is looking to push back a crucial meeting with its bondholders, originally set for Wednesday this week, partly out of fear that a group of hedge funds will block the deal.

Thomas Cook is set to seek to push back a crucial meeting of bondholders as it races to secure support for a proposed £900m rescue deal that would leave its majority shareholder Fosun and lenders in control of the 178-year-old holiday business, the Financial Times reported. The company is locked in a series of last-minute negotiations as it looks to finalise the terms of the restructuring agreement with Fosun, its lenders and bondholders. Any deal would need support from three-quarters of its bondholders.

Almost two-thirds of voters have said they would be willing to forgo budget tax cuts at a time of rising fears over the economic cost of a no-deal Brexit, The Irish Times reported. According to the latest Sunday Business Post/Red C opinion poll, just 39 per cent said they wanted tax cuts and/or social welfare increases that benefit them personally. Instead, 61 per cent said they would prefer the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to invest more in public services in next month’s budget, at a time of public housing shortages and long health service waiting lists.

Treasury plans to prioritise debt repayments to the government in company insolvencies represents a “cash grab” that will have “serious consequences” for the economy, industry bodies have warned, The Times reported. In a joint letter to Sajid Javid, the chancellor, accountancy, investment and legal trade groups said that the proposed legislation would make it harder to rescue businesses, limit access to finance across the economy, increase the impact of insolvencies on other businesses and undermine government tax receipts.

Nearly 10m households in the UK are paying their energy bills via standard variable tariffs. These are the rates customers default to when any special energy deal runs out and are usually the most expensive around, the Financial Times reported. A customer could be put on a standard variable tariff if their fixed-term tariff contract ends and they have not chosen a new one; this usually occurs after around a year. The average price of a standard variable tariff from the largest six suppliers for a typical dual fuel customer is £104.50 a month, or £1,254 a year.

Losses at Topshop, once considered the jewel in the crown of Philip Green’s Arcadia group, widened to £498m for the year to September 2018 after taking significant exceptional charges relating to property leases and brand value, the Financial Times reported. The company accounts for around half of Arcadia’s overall sales and along with six other group entities has used insolvency procedures to secure lower rents at many of its UK stores. Topshop’s loss in the previous year was £15.6m.