The team behind the £43bn High Speed 2 rail link wants new powers to borrow money in debt markets and hedge against the cost of rising commodity prices. HS2's commercial director, Beth West, is in talks with ministers over legislation to enshrine the new powers. She said raising debt would allow managers to "bring in financial discipline" instead of relying on the Government.

The Sunday Times: New rules will force us to cut lending, says Barclays

The Bank of England is on collision course with Barclays over the latter's threat to rein in lending. Anthony Jenkins, chief executive, told investors that if the Bank's Prudential Regulation Authority presses ahead with plans for a new 3 per cent leverage ratio it may be forced to "restrict" lending. Barclays should be able to meet the target by 2015 but a quicker timetable would affect the availability of UK credit.

The Mail on Sunday: Firms damaged by rate swaps mis-selling still await payouts

Thousands of small businesses are still waiting to receive up to £2bn in compensation over mis-sold interest rate swaps which left them with soaring bills when borrowing costs were cut to record lows. In January the regulator announced a compensation scheme for 40,000 firms but it is understood that only a small number have even received offers from the banks.

The Sunday Telegraph: Properly run Europe 'is vital to Britain's interests'

The president of the CBI, Sir Mike Rake, has said membership of the European Union is "overwhelmingly in the UK's economic interests". But Britain will only prosper if the EU is made a properly functioning single market. "It would be deeply and unfortunately ironic if the UK were to consider leaving the EU having just helped create a massive Euro-American trade area," he said.