We’ve summarised the top stories of the last week into an easily digestible briefing, so that you can stay up to date on what’s happening around the world. You can subscribe to receive the briefing in your inbox each week.

UK Business & Economics

1. Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, has announced that there is still a “hangover effect” from Liz Truss’ policies as Prime Minister. This is down to the fact that investors are still wary about lending money despite the cost of government borrowing beginning to plateau.
2. Changing Europe and the Centre for European Reform think tanks have estimated that the UK is facing a deficit of 300,000 workers resulting from the end of the free movement of labour with the EU. Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics and policy at King’s College London who contributed to the report, has said the “longer-term impact on the UK labour market will be profound”. 
3. Victoria Atkins, the Treasury minister, has recognised that billions of pounds of tax will be left uncollected since 2,300 HM Revenue & Customs tax compliance staff have been transferred to work on Brexit and Covid-19 schemes. 

International Business & Economics

1. The Secretary of the US Treasury, Janet Yellen, is scheduled to meet her Chinese counterpart this weekend, Liu He, in Zurich on Wednesday. This precedes Yellen’s 10 day visit to Africa where she plans to lure nations on the continent away from financial dependency on China and Russia. 
2. Argentina’s inflation rate hit a three-decade high of 95% in December, with only Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Venezuela, Syria, and Sudan witnessing higher rates.
3. The US Treasury secretary warned that the US will be unable to service its debt by June unless Congress raises the statutory borrowing limit. Raising the debt ceiling above $31.4 trillion is needed to avoid a sovereign default.
4. European stocks rose again on Monday despite central bank warnings of inflation. The FTSE 100 rose by 0.2% whilst the Stoxx Europe gained 0.5%. This is largely accredited to slowing rates of inflation across Europe. 
5. Consumer prices fell by 0.1% in December, their first monthly decline since May 2020, due to a drop in the price of fuel and lower consumer demand. Annual inflation to December remains at 6.5%.

UK Politics

1. The UK government has blocked a Scottish bill designed to make it easier for people to change their gender.  It is expected that the Scottish government will challenge the decision, with Nicola Sturgeon calling the move “a full frontal attack” on Scottish Parliament.
2. Migrants facing potential deportation to Rwanda have achieved permission to challenge the policy – the scheme has already cost £140 million but no migrants have been sent yet. Suella Braverman has maintained that she is committed to ensuring that the Rwanda policy will work. 
3. New government plans might grant police offers more power to deal with disruptive protestors. Rishi Sunak has said that “a balance must be struck between the rights of the individual and the rights of the hard-working majority to go about their day-to-day business”. 

International Politics

1. News broke out on the 9th of January that classified documents had been found in Biden’s home in Delaware in November, with further documents discovered this week. Republicans have labelled the Democrats hypocrites after their previous insistence that Trump should be prosecuted for mishandling sensitive papers.
2. Brazil’s Supreme Court agreed to prosecutors’ requests that Bolsonaro, currently in Florida, be included as a subject of their investigation into the riots in Brasilia on January 8th due to his alleged incitement of violence in a video he posted questioning the election results in October.
3. The US and Japan announced plans to strengthen their security alliance amid concerns of China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific. Japan also signed a defence agreement with Britain which will allow both countries to deploy troops in each other’s territory.
4. Peru declared a “state of emergency” in Lima and three other regions after over forty people were killed during demonstrations against President Boluarte amid the country’s worst violent unrest in twenty years.
5. Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defense minister, appointed a new commander, Valery Gerasimov, to lead its invasion of Ukraine. Separately, Russia and Ukraine agreed to swap more than 80 prisoners.

Written by Philip Weaver and Rob Webb