A decisive victory for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party in the British election sent investors scrambling to buy U.K. stocks and pushed the pound to its highest level against the dollar since May 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported. The FTSE 100 index, which tracks the U.K.’s largest companies, rose 1.9 percent, marking its biggest gain since February. The rally was led by gains in stocks such as house builder Taylor Wimpey PLC and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC.

British voters are headed to the polls today in an election that will likely determine whether the U.K. will leave the European Union at the end of next month or hold another Brexit referendum, the Wall Street Journal reported. The election is the most crucial, and divisive, the country has faced in a generation. Opinion polls put Prime Minister Boris Johnson ahead with an average 10-point lead over opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, with more than 40 percent of the vote. That would translate into a healthy majority in Parliament for his Conservative Party.

Thomas Cook is set to be relaunched by its Chinese owner, who plans to use the 178-year-old British tour operator’s brand on a travel platform targeting European customers, Bloomberg News reported. Fosun Tourism Group, the Shanghai-based company that bought Thomas Cook’s trademark following its dramatic collapse in September, will debut the platform in the first half of next year.

Administrators of a failed care home and hospitality group are trying to locate £50 million raised from private investors which is allegedly missing, the Times reported. Insolvency practitioners from two firms, Duff & Phelps and Quantuma, said that they were facing a “huge job” to locate and recover funds raised by Carlauren Group. Carlauren, which is based in Yeovil, and related companies have about 260 staff. It was established in 2015 and ran care homes, hotels and other businesses.

About 47,000 firms across the UK financial sector will be subject to tough accountability rules designed to clean up the City of London’s reputation after a string of scandals, the Irish Times reported. The Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR), which holds financial companies’ top brass liable for failings on their watch, is being extended to the rest of the sector, three years after its initial rollout for banks and insurers.

Clintons, the high street greeting card chain, was sold out of administration on Wednesday to the Weiss family, its current owners, in a deal that will save 2,500 jobs and 334 stores, the Financial Times reported. The long-troubled retailer, formerly Clinton Cards, had faced increasing cash flow pressures. In September the company brought in KPMG to review options for restructuring. Wednesday’s transaction will allow the group to escape many of its debt obligations.

UK manufacturers reported cutting jobs at the fastest pace since 2012 as they were “squeezed between a rock and hard place”, and reducing their stocks as new orders faltered, according to a closely watched industry survey, the Financial Times reported. The IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index for manufacturing slipped to 48.9 in November, down from 49.6 in October, but above the earlier flash estimate of 48.3.

Peer-to-peer lender Zopa in on track to secure a £130m capital lifeline it needs to become a challenger bank days just before its conditional banking licence expires, the Financial Times reported. Britain’s oldest peer-to-peer lender is hoping to clinch the funding from an entity linked to IAG Capital Partners, a US-based fund, and its UK investment vehicle Silverstripe early next week, according to a person close to the matter. The deal, first reported by Sky News on Saturday, would close just before Zopa’s banking licence expires on Tuesday.

PizzaExpress Ltd. is something of a British national treasure having delivered quasi-Italian cuisine to the High Street for 54 years, a Bloomberg View reported. It’s found itself in a battle for survival in the U.K.’s uber-competitive “casual dining” arena, and has consequently been caught up in a proper tussle in the bond market. Commercially, the restaurant chain is battling on two fronts: that ferocious fight in its domestic market and coping with an unsuccessful expansion in China. Comparable sales outside of the U.K. fell 7.5% last year.