UK Economics

1. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered “the largest business tax cut in modern Britain”, worth £18bn, in his Autumn Budget; businesses now permanently have access to “full expensing”, the act of deducting the amount spent on capital from taxable profits. National Insurance rates on incomes below £50,250 were cut, among other taxes.
2. The UK Supreme Court ruled that Deliveroo riders were not workers in an employment relationship and could not be represented by unions, as they could use others to complete their orders. The case was fought for more than seven years by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, and described the ruling as a “disappointment”.
3. Britain’s consumer-confidence index, a measure of people’s views on personal finance and the UK economy, increased by more than expected in November. The index, compiled by the research firm GfK, rose by six points to -24, and the pound reached a 12-week high.

World Economics

1. Sam Altman was reinstated as chief executive of OpenAI just days after he was outed by the former board. 7,000 of 7,700 of OpenAI’s staff had threatened to quit had Mr Altman not been brought back. Microsoft had offered to employ him. The new board now includes Larry Summers, former American treasury secretary.
2. Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, pleaded guilty to charges related to money laundering and failure to comply with international sanctions, which America’s Department of Justice claims allowed $1bn of illegal transactions. He resigned as chief executive and will pay $4.3bn.
3. Japan’s core consumer-price index, which excludes fresh food, jumped by 2.9% year on year in October, remaining above the Bank of Japan’s 2% target for the 19th consecutive month. Prices for nearly 90% of items in the CPI basket are rising.
4. Nvidia’s revenues more than tripled in the fourth quarter of 2023, year on year, with net profit at $9.2bn compared to $680mn in the same period last year. The company expects sales to fall in China due to tighter restrictions on exporting AI chips to the company but thinks demand elsewhere will make up for this.
5. Next week will see the beginning of COP28, the annual global climate conference, in Dubai. Many world leaders, including King Charles and the Pope, will be attending, and health will be high on the agenda. Next week is also a big week for economic data, with quarterly incomes being released for India, Brazil, Canada, and the US.

UK Politics

1. After the Supreme Court’s ruled that the UK government’s Rwanda scheme breached five pieces of domestic legislation and four international conventions, Rishi Sunak, has pledged to introduce emergency legislation to parliament to block further legal challenges to the policy. A new treaty is expected to be signed with Rwanda.
2. The latest figures from the ONS show that net migration into the UK has hit a record high last year reaching 745,000; that’s 139,000 more than originally thought. In response to this, Rishi Sunak stated that net migration levels ‘must come down to more sustainable levels’; Mr Sunak said net migration was slowing ‘but we’ve got to do more’. 
3. Reform UK, led by Richard Tice, is nearing a 10% share in the latest opinion polls amid government struggles with immigration policy. Many Conservative MPs fear that Reform UK could turn a defeat into a rout and deliver a staggering Labour landslide victory of more than 200 seats.

World Politics

1. The Dutch Election produced a shock result with the hard-right populist Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party winning 37 seats of the 150 seat parliament. The result has caused alarm among the immigrant and Muslim communities in the Netherlands owing to Mr Wilders’ harsh rhetoric towards them.
2. North Korea claimed it had sent a spy satellite into orbit for the first time, following two failed attempts. Following this, South Korea resumed reconnaissance and surveillance operations along the border between the two countries, suspending part of an agreement struck with the North in 2018 to reduce tensions.
3. Vladimir Putin has stated that Russia is open to peace talks with Ukraine as he described the war as a ‘tragedy’. He stated that ‘military actions are always a tragedy’. However, he gave no sign that he was about to withdraw troops from any occupied regions. 
4. The latest Republican candidacy poles show Nikki Haley, South Carolina’s former governor, catching up with Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, for second place in the Republican race in Iowa, the first state to decide, as she chases President Trump. Polls in South Carolina show Trump on 52%, Halley on 17% and DeSantis on 12%.
5. Javier Milei, the libertarian president-elect of Argentina, has promised mass privatisations in his first policy statement following his landslide victory. Mr Milei stated that ‘Everything that can be in the hands of the private sector will be in the hands of the private sector’.

Written by Zihan Tian and Alex Duguid