More than 30 of the coalition's flagship schemes, including Universal Credit and the West Coast Main Line scheme, are at serious risk of failure, a government annual report has warned.

Banks have a �once in a generation� chance to clean up their act, the chairman of shamed HSBC said yesterday. Douglas Flint told the firm's annual general meeting: �Banking has been given a huge wake-up call and we are committed to playing a key part in ...

Households paid off �241m more mortgage debt than they borrowed in an effort to get on top of their debts. Before May last year, net lending had never been negative since the BBA started collecting the data in 1997.

Ms Lagarde, French finance minister at that time, now appears unlikely to be brought to trial in the case, lifting a cloud that had gathered over her position as leader of one of the world's top international institutions.

Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, tackled the political debate surrounding Britain's EU membership on Thursday night, telling a City of London audience that Europe needed �a more European UK�.