UK Economics Focus The election and the markets With the general election now less than two weeks away, it is a good time to take a look back at history to see what impact an election usually has on the financial markets. 25th April 2005 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus The economy and the election At face value, current conditions in the UK economy would appear strongly to support the widely held expectations of a third consecutive general election victory for Labour on May 5th. GDP has... 12th April 2005 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Focus What Happens if the UK Rejects the EU Constitution? Recent opinion polls suggest that the French referendum on 29th May could reject the EU constitution, although the chances are good that ratification could be obtained by repeating the referendum at a... 31st March 2005 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Focus EU Stability and Growth Pact – An Obituary The changes agreed this week clearly water down the EU stability and growth pact (SGP) and allow far greater scope for countries to run budget deficits above the 3% limit. Thus it may seem odd that... 24th March 2005 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Focus EU Constitution – the economic consequences of rejection Ten EU countries are set to hold referendums on whether to ratify the proposed EU constitution. The UK referendum is the most likely to fail, but for other countries the risk of rejecting the... 10th February 2005 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Focus EU Constitution: ratification likely to be a rough ride On 20th February Spain will become the first of ten countries to hold a referendum on the proposed EU constitution. This Focus is the first in a series which will set out the key event risks involved... 9th February 2005 · 1 min read
UK Economic Outlook The economic consequences of EU enlargement (Q4 03) In May next year, eight Central and Eastern European Countries together with Cyprus and Malta will join the European Union, increasing membership from 15 to 25 states. How this enlargement works will... 27th September 2003 · 1 min read
UK Economic Outlook Profits - The Bottom Line; Sharp falls in store in 2002 (Q1 02) A simultaneous slowdown in all of the industrial nations is now underway. The result is that global growth in 2002 may be the weakest in post-war history. 13th December 2001 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus The Mansion House Speech & the Euro Last night’s Mansion House Speech by Gordon Brown seems to have put paid to recent speculation of an early assessment of the five economic tests leading to a euro referendum as soon as this Autumn... 21st June 2001 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? Key policy issues in Labour’s second term Markets and business have approached the prospect of a second Labour term in Government in relaxed mood. This no doubt reflects the generally market friendly policies of the first term, coupled with... 8th June 2001 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus Windfalls – what happened last time? Three previously mutually owned organisations – Friends Provident, Scottish Provident, and Scottish Life – have announced that, subject to members’ approval, they are to lose their mutual status... 4th May 2001 · 1 min read
