I think you miss interpreted this line "I have spoken to the...

I think you miss interpreted this line "I have spoken to the board today and they have assured me that their top priority is to honour the UK teams invoices and are working towards this with the powers that be."

What he's really saying is that the boards top priority is to honour all invoices. He was not singling out the UK as if it was different from others, he was just making reference to UK invoices as that is the audience of the email.

In reality, the board cannot do anything i suspect without the group handling the administration and they must first pay off the debt. Then see if they can run a company and if they can, pay staff, if they can't wrap things up.