The Ernst & Young ITEM Club said �the persistence of high inflation could undermine the Monetary Policy Committee's credibility� and �tie [its] hands�.

Has the time come to halt the demonisation of bankers? Outgoing Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King thinks so. His point is not simply that it has gone on long enough and that it is time to move on.

Marks and Spencer was dragged into the intensifying corporate tax avoidance row on Sunday night with allegations that its online sales operation was operated in a similar way to that of Amazon to minimise payments to the UK Treasury.

Yahoo Inc. has agreed to pay $1.1 billion for Tumblr, a six-year-old company with more than 100 million users but very little revenue, a deal that highlights the shifting balance of power in the technology business.

Prime Minister David Cameron wrote to the Cayman Islands and nine other U.K. territories to request action to tackle company tax evasion as Britain prepares to host the Group of Eight summit next month.

By William James. LONDON | Mon May 20, 2013 1:06am BST. LONDON (Reuters) - The cost of protecting Scottish savers would prove difficult to bear if the country broke away from the rest of the UK, a study by Britain's finance ministry said on Monday.

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt criticised British politicians for �a confusing spectacle� in which �legislators are doing the lobbying and companies are articulating the law as it stands�.

Helped by the warmer weather, footfall on the high-street rose 3.4pc year-on-year in April, the biggest increase since the run-up to Chrismtas in 2011.

House asking prices have soared to a new high showing further signs of confidence returning to the market, a property website reported today.

LONDON�Roger Carr, the chairman of U.K. gas utility Centrica PLC, is the front-runner to replace Dick Olver as chairman of Britain's defense contractor BAE Systems PLC, a person familiar with the matter said Sunday.