46. Weekly Newsletter

Political reshuffling

British home secretary, Suella Braverman was sacked this week after she criticised the police for being too lenient towards Pro-Palestinian protesters which piled on the pressure for Rishi Sunak to make the move. This move has resulted in a major reshuffle with former foreign secretary, James Cleverly replacing Braverman at the Home Office. However, the biggest surprise came as former Prime Minister David Cameron was announced by Sunak to be brought to the forefront of the political landscape as foreign secretary.

This move came as a surprise with Cameron having little involvement in politics since he resigned in 2016 after the result of the Brexit vote. This comeback for Cameron comes just after the Financial Times revealed he was lobbying former colleagues in government under the influence of his employer ‘Greensill Capital’. Sunak recently pledged to be the “change” prime minister and this move will represent a number of decisions made which have caught the headlines such as the smoking ban’ as Sunak
looks to gain ground on Labour as the next election looms.

Newspapers

The UK’s front page news cycle over the last seven days has covered a wide range of topics. The UK decide to press ahead with carbon border tax in 2026, Sunak set to reach target of halving inflation and Babcock wins £750 million UK submarine maintenance contract. Some of the newspaper front pages from this week were:

• Financial Times- ‘UK statistics agency to offer bigger cash rewards to tackle data flaws’
• Financial Times- ‘UK to press ahead with carbon border tax in 2026’
• The Guardian- ‘David Cameron returns to UK government as foreign secretary’
• The Times- ‘Rishi Sunak set to hit UK inflation target of 5%
• The Times- UK ‘must stop blowing hot and cold on wind farms’
• Sunday Telegraph- ‘Desire for non-stop construction threatens historic London’

UK inflation target reached

Rishi Sunak will declare this week that his promise to halve inflation has been met which provides welcoming positive economic outlook as the critical Christmas retail period begins. The Bank of England expects inflation to fall significantly from 6.7% in September to below 5% in October and remain below 5% for the rest of the year. Positive news for inflation will also be reinforced by Jeremy Hunt and his Autumn Statement in which potential tax cuts are a real possibility. The main driver for this has been the decline in wholesale gas prices which has really aided in bringing down headline inflation sharply. Jeremy Hunt will make clear in his Autumn statement that he won’t do anything to damage the progress that has been made in bringing inflation down to the Bank of England’s target of 2%.