More than half a million firms in Britain are in “significant” financial distress, with thousands facing insolvency over the coming months as Britain’s economy continues to stutter, a new report has said. Begbies Traynor, one of the UK’s biggest insolvency practitioners, said firms continued to struggle with the same pressures as last year, such as high interest rates, brittle consumer confidence and high levels of debt accrued during the pandemic. Its “Red Flag Alert” research showed that a total of 554,554 businesses, in all major sectors of the economy, are now in “significant” financial distress - a 30 per cent rise since last year. The number of businesses in “critical distress” has jumped by 20 per cent last year, with with 40,174 UK businesses affected. Begbies Traynor said that insolvency rates are at “historically elevated levels” as firms are servicing debt at higher interest rates. The Bank of England hiked interest rates from 0.1 per cent in 2021 to the currrent base rate of 5.25 per cent in an attempt to combat skyrocketing inflation. However, this has increased the cost of borrowing for UK businesses, and has meant that it is more expensive servicing debt firms have have accrued to...