18. Weekly Newsletter

Council Elections & Polling On Thursday (5th May), many voters across England, Wales and Scotland will be voting in the local elections as the nation now sits around half-way through the traditional 5-year general election cycle. More than 4,350 council seats will be contested across 140 councils- with 32 and 22 councils fully up for election in Scotland and Wales respectively. UK councillors are responsible for a wide range of issues ...

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17. Weekly Newsletter

PM Johnson in India PM Johnson has vowed to deepen trade ties with India after developing talks with India’s PM Narendra Modi. Following the meeting with his Indian counterpart, Britain’s PM committed to getting a post-Brexit trade deal “done” by Diwali which is in late October. India has maintained high trade barriers on UK exports to India with, for instance, foreign cars hitting tariffs of up to 100%. As such, the ...

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16. Weekly Newsletter

‘Cost of Living Crisis’ The rising cost of living has forced Britons to cut back on spending in some areas of the economy and has introduced new unusual cost-saving measures into public debate. Over the weekend, a member of the House of Lords suggested that Britain should move clocks forward by an extra hour to Central European time to maximise daylight in the evening- as energy bills continue to rise. Polling ...

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15. Weekly Newsletter

PM Johnson in Ukraine Over the weekend, PM Johnson has been in Kyiv whilst pledging fresh rounds of aid to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. The PM’s office, Number 10, described the visit as ‘showing solidarity’ with the Ukrainian people and comes as the UK has committed to send 120 armoured vehicles and anti-ship missile systems to support Ukraine. Additionally, PM Johnson paid tribute to President Zelensky, commending his “resolute leadership and ...

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14. Weekly Newsletter

UK House Prices UK house prices continue their upward spiral as price growth is now at a 17-year high (according to Nationwide) in the month of March- despite the rising cost of living. Annual growth hit 14.3% in February for an average of £265,312 and represents a £33,000 increase compared to the same time last year. This means that the average house price increased by a level that is £1,500 below ...

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Updates from Member Companies

Penser The Penser Sustainable Impact Fund is recognised as one of the most sustainable funds worldwide. The fund has now received an AAA rating and a maximum rating of 10, based on how, environmental, social and ownership aspects of sustainability are handled in fund management. The top rating, recently made by the American finance rating and index company MSCI, places Penser Sustainable Impact within the top percentage of the world's most ...

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13. Weekly Newsletter

The Spring Budget On Wednesday (23rd March 2022), the Chancellor of the Exchequer outlined the UK’s full Spring Statement in parliament. Traditionally, the Spring Budget is considered the less influential of the two annual budgetary announcements (the other being in Autumn) but there were still substantial policy changes. Furthermore, ongoing inflation levels of 6.2% continue to add fears of ‘stagflation’ in the economy which the Chancellor is looking to alleviate. A ...

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Updates from Member Companies

We are are always curious about the challenges and possibilities our member companies are facing within their industries. This week we are happy to share updates from TMF Group, Skanska and Linklaters.  TMF group TMF Group has announced their expansion into Southeast Europe through the acquisition of the Bulgarian accounting consultancy, NOVACON Bulgaria OOD. This is an important step for the company’s growing presence in Bulgarian markets, as well as the broader ...

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Lunch with Sofie Zetterlund

Last week we had the great pleasure of having lunch with Sofie Zetterlund, Nordic Head of Marketing at Schroders. We took the opportunity to ask Sofie three questions to learn a little bit more about Schroders and to find out what Sofie thinks about the Chamber. How long have Schroders been members of the Chamber?  We have been members for a bit more than a year. As a global leader in asset ...

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12. Weekly Newsletter

PM Johnson and PM Andersson Meeting On Tuesday (15th March 2022), PM Johnson and PM Andersson met following a Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) summit in London. The British prime minister told the Swedish leader that the UK continues to stand in solidarity with the their Nordic partners in the face of Russian aggression. Additionally, the leaders discussed how Putin’s attack on Ukraine had led to a shift in European thinking. The two ...

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