UK faces two-year recession if euro fails – papers

A eurozone meltdown would plunge Britain back into a two-year recession and send unemployment soaring above 10%, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned.

Should Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy all leave the euro, the UK economy would shrink by 1.7% this year and 0.9% in 2013, and unemployment would hit 10.7% - its highest level since its last peak in January 1993. MORE...

Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio, who recently returned to work after taking two months off due to fatigue, has launched a major boardroom shake-up to take some of the pressure off his shoulders. MORE...

The world's largest social networking site, Facebook, has announced plans for a stock market flotation. MORE...

The head of the civil service has been asked to strip former Lloyds chairman Sir Victor Blank of his knighthood, as concerns grow about a rising "anti-business hysteria". MORE...

Germany's Bundesbank has entirely exhausted its stock of private assets and run up a quarter of a trillion euros in liabilities propping up the eurozone system, testing the political limits of EMU solidarity in Germany. MORE...

The Treasury is insisting it will stick to its tough austerity plan despite being told by Britain's leading financial thinktank that a £10bn budget giveaway would be possible without running the risk of forcing the Bank of England to raise interest rates. MORE...

Tories demanded further action against failed bankers yesterday following the decision to strip Fred Goodwin of his knighthood. MORE...