White-collar crime partners have warned that ongoing uncertainty over the future of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) could impact on recent progress made by the City watchdog, following the seeming reprieve granted to it this week.

The Conservative manifesto had included a pledge to merge the SFO into the National Crime Agency, but this was not mentioned in this week’s Queen’s Speech, which was slimmed down in the wake of the Tories’ loss of an electoral majority.