United Kingdom

Battersea Power Station is going into receivership, with its £5.5bn development scheme in tatters, two days after George Osborne and Boris Johnson posed in hardhats to announce an enterprise zone and tube extension to the listed building, The Guardian reported. In one of the highest-profile property collapses since the credit crunch, Battersea's creditors have secured a high court hearing on 12 December to confirm Ernst & Young as administrators.

Teachers, doctors, court reporters, border-control agents, ambulance drivers and other public-sector workers walked off the job across Britain on Wednesday in a massive protest against the government's plans to overhaul their pensions, the Los Angeles Times reported. Unions estimated that as many as 2 million state employees went on strike, which would make it the biggest mass industrial action this nation has seen in at least a generation.

George Osborne on Tuesday steered Britain towards another five years of austerity as he mapped out a bleak course of stalling growth, public sector pay restraint, painful cuts and rising borrowing stretching into the next parliament, the Financial Times reported. Admitting that even this dark outlook could turn out to be optimistic if the eurozone crisis worsened, the chancellor warned that political failure in Europe could result in “a much worse outcome” for Britain.

Final bids for a GBP1 billion ($1.6 billion) portfolio of distressed commercial property loans being sold by Lloyds Banking Group PLC are due on Wednesday, people familiar with the situation told Dow Jones on Monday. Bids are expected from U.S.-based investors Colony Capital, Cerberus Capital Managment and Lone Star Funds, which were among the potential buyers shortlisted by the bank last month. Read more.

The U.K. Treasury will guarantee bank lending to small and midsize companies in a bid to reduce the costs of such debt and stimulate lending to a part of the British economy that has struggled to get new funds, according to a person familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported. The government will use its balance sheet to guarantee banks' lending, giving them the benefit of Britain's triple-A credit rating, this person said. The savings in interest payments banks make—which the government estimates could be around one percent on borrowing—will be passed onto companies.

David Cameron will be warned that he risks creating an unstoppable momentum behind a "two-speed Europe", which would be dominated by France and Germany, if Britain demands too many concessions during the eurozone crisis, The Guardian reported. In a series of meetings in Berlin and Brussels, the prime minister will be advised that Britain should table modest proposals next year when EU leaders embark on a small treaty revision to underpin the euro. Cameron will have breakfast in Brussels with José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission.

The British government has agreed to sell Northern Rock, the failed mortgage lender it nationalised in 2008, to Virgin Money, the banking arm of Richard Branson's Virgin empire, the Irish Times reported. Northern Rock, the first banking asset bought by the government during the financial crisis to be offloaded, will fetch between £747 million and £1 billion (€1.16 billion) in cash, the finance ministry said today. Even at the upper end that would mean a £400 million loss on the £1.4 billion in equity pumped into the lender by taxpayers at the height of the credit crunch.

The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation is to ask the courts in Northern Ireland to overturn the bankruptcy of businessman Seán Quinn, the Irish Times reported. The bankruptcy was secured last Friday with no notice to the bank, which initiated proceedings nine days earlier for summary judgment orders for more than €2 billion against Mr Quinn. IBRC, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, is pressing ahead with its action here and Mr Justice Peter Kelly said yesterday it was “clearly at issue” whether the bankruptcy was properly obtained or, as the bank alleged, contrived to frustrate its case.

Thousands of British civil servants have voted in favour of a national strike at the end of the month over pension reform, two unions said on Monday, bringing the prospect of a national stoppage involving millions of workers a step closer, Reuters reported. The FDA union, representing 19,000 senior government workers, including diplomats, prosecutors, economists and tax professionals, said that on a turnout of 54 percent, 81 percent had voted in favour of a walkout.

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron will Thursday announce a new deal with HSBC Holdings PLC and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC to lend £95 million to small and midsize British companies that are struggling to get normal bank loans, The Wall Street Journal reported. The deal is designed to stimulate employment and boost the U.K.'s flagging economy, with the government saying it will create 4,000 jobs and unlock around £500 million of new investment by small and medium-sized companies.