British Business Bank back in the spotlight with £10bn UK growth mandate

‘I don’t think there’s a need for us to resurrect any reputation’ … Louis Taylor, who joined the BBB in June 2022, plans a robust defence at the Covid inquiry. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Louis Taylor is caught between two eras. The chief executive of the British Business Bank (BBB) has spent much of his tenure attempting to revive the state-owned lender’s image after a battering from the fraud-hit pandemic loan scheme under the last government, and will soon have to defend its actions at the Covid inquiry.

But until then, he can focus on the BBB’s gleefully landed fresh £10bn mandate linked to the centrepiece industrial strategy Labour hopes will boost a flagging economy as it nears the end of its first year in power.