The leading representative body for small businesses in Britain has criticised the City watchdog over its approach to a ‘super-complaint’ about lenders’ demand for personal guarantees.
Sky News has obtained a letter from Martin McTague, national chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) competition chief Sheldon Mills in which he argues that the FCA risks “losing the confidence of small businesses” by focusing too narrowly in its analysis of the issue.
The ‘super-complaint’ filed by the FSB – the first since it was granted the power to do so a decade ago – was lodged amid concerns that small business-owners were being deterred from applying for bank loans by personal guarantee demands.
This could, it argued, have an impact on the wider UK economy by impeding the growth of businesses by diminishing demand for credit.
In his letter to Mr Mills, sent last week, Mr McTague said the FCA’s “decision to limit the scope of your evidence-gathering fundamentally, and I’m afraid deliberately, excludes the more than one million limited company directors in the UK that run their small businesses by being incorporated”.
“Personal guarantees, where used properly, undoubtedly have a legitimate role in enabling business lending,” he added.
“However, excessive use of personal guarantees when lending to limited companies can deter investment, which in turn undermines productivity.”
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In its public response to the ‘super-complaint’, the FCA said its “ability to investigate and act is restricted” by its regulatory perimeter.
Craig Beaumont, chief of external affairs at the FSB, said: “The FCA’s decision to side-step the core issue – the banks’ increasingly blanket use of personal guarantees for UK small companies – is disappointing.
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“It is not dissimilar to historic banking scandals where each regulator in this area acknowledges there’s a problem, but quietly retreats and leaves a large group of small business owners exposed – this time, nearly one million limited company directors.
“It’s a ‘not me, Guv’ approach to regulating; a missed opportunity to improve the lending market.
“Small businesses deserve better and we are seeing what other options are available to us now the FCA has said it’s walking off the pitch.”
Ministers will this week unveil a revamp of the Whitehall investment hub that they hope will secure hundreds of billions of capital flows into the UK in the coming years.
Sky News understands that Baroness Gustafsson, the investment minister, will address a private event on Thursday designed to relaunch the Office for Investment (OfI).
Government sources said the revamp – in which Sir Keir Starmer’s top officials and the Treasury have been closely involved – would align the UK’s ‘investment resources’ under a single brand.
The new OfI has absorbed teams from other Whitehall directorates with the objective of reducing confusion among international investors in Britain, according to the sources.
Greg Jackson, the Octopus Energy chief, and Baroness Lane Fox, who chairs the British Chambers of Commerce, are expected to speak at the event in central London alongside senior government officials, according to people familiar with the agenda.
Thursday’s summit will come days before ministers launch the new industrial strategy, with the OfI charged with targeting investors in priority sectors such as clean energy, advanced manufacturing and life sciences.
A beefed-up investment hub was among the key recommendations of the former business minister Lord Harrington’s review – commissioned by then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt – in 2023.
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One insider said last year’s International Investment Summit, at which ministers claimed to have drawn £63bn of new investment for the UK, provided a solid foundation for the revamped OfI.
A further event designed to attract inward investment will be held in Birmingham later this year, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced on Wednesday.
The Department for Business and Trade declined to comment on Wednesday afternoon.
The Post Office is considering selling assets or taking on new borrowings to help deliver an ambition to boost sub-postmasters’ pay by £120m this year, its chairman has said.
Sky News has learnt that Nigel Railton, who was confirmed as the state-owned company’s long-term chair last week, told thousands of branch managers that it had ring-fenced £86m so far to increase their remuneration.
In a speech delivered in Chesterfield, Mr Railton is understood to have told sub-postmasters that the Post Office’s board was redoubling its efforts to meet the target of up to £120m for pay rises.
The company was exploring options including additional cost-savings, further asset sales, sale-and-leaseback opportunities, and borrowing options, he told them.
One source said Mr Railton had said on Wednesday morning that without actions already taken by Post Office management, sub-postmasters would be left with pay increases this year of just 2%, rather than the 20% it had now secured.
The progress towards its £120m target comes just three months after the Post Office chairman was forced to deliver a bleaker prognosis to thousands of sub-postmasters keen to have their faith restored in the scandal-hit company.
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In March, Mr Railton said he had yet to gain certainty from Whitehall about a £120m increase for this year.
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“Our funding discussions are positive and ongoing, but I want to be honest that we are operating in a challenging financial environment,” he told them at the time.
The Post Office is reliant on funding from the government, and last November outlined plans for an ambitious transformation of its business, which includes a substantial number of job cuts.
It remains hopeful of making up the £34m shortfall to reach its £120m target, according to insiders, as it seeks to rebuild its public and internal reputation in the aftermath of the Horizon IT scandal.
A Post Office spokesman confirmed Mr Railton’s remarks on Wednesday.
Elon Musk has criticised US President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, calling it “outrageous” and a “disgusting abomination”.
The bill, which includes multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks, was passed by the House Republicans in May, and has been described by the president as a “big, beautiful bill”.
The tech billionaire hit out at the tax cuts on his platform X, writing: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Image: Elon Musk left his ‘special government employee’ role last week. Pic: AP.
In American politics, “pork” is a political metaphor used when government spending is allocated to local projects, usually to benefit politicians’ constituencies.
The White House brushed Musk’s comments aside, claiming they did not surprise the president.
In a press conference on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill”.
She added: “This is one, big, beautiful bill.
“And he’s sticking to it.”
The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to cut back $9.4bn in already approved spending, taking money away from DOGE.
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The billionaire tweeted: “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!!) and burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
He also suggested voting out politicians who advanced the president’s tax bill.
“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” Musk wrote in another X post.
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Questions have also been raised about whether the department has actually saved taxpayers as much money as suggested.
Musk initially had ambitions to slash government spending by $2trn (£1.5trn) – but this was dramatically reduced to $1trn (£750bn) and then to just $150bn (£111bn).
Image: Elon Musk brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office during a press conference earlier this year. Pic: Reuters.
He recently told The Washington Post: “The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised. I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC to say the least.”
By law, status as a “special government employee” means he could only serve for a maximum of 130 days, which would have ended around 30 May.