UK Economics 

1. On Wednesday, 8 May government sources reported that HS2 Ltd. is set to be provided with a £1bn injection of taxpayer money, to fund the construction of a tunnel connecting Old Oak Common and Euston Station. The injection is set to end months of uncertainty around HS2’s London terminus.
2. On 9 May the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to hold its base rate at the 16-year high of 5.25%. The Bank has strongly hinted at the possibility of a rate cut as early as June, though governor Andrew Bailey has cautioned that the decision is far from a “fait accompli”. 
3. In expectation of a rate cut over the Summer, currency speculators have raised their short positions against the pound to a 16-month high. A divergence between UK and US interest rates in June will likely cause the pound to decline against the dollar, as savers will look to buy dollars and benefit from the higher interest rates offered by US banks.
4. On 10 May the Office for National Statistics reported that UK economy grew 0.6% in Q1 of 2024, the fastest growth in two years. The UK has now officially escaped last year’s technical recession, which saw negative growth in Q3 and Q4 of 2023.

World Economics 

1. Ahead of the US presidential election in November, the Biden administration is set to impose a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicle imports from the current 25% in order to protect the US EV industry from competition with cheaper Chinese products. 
2. The president of Sweden’s central bank has stated that Europe has to close the productivity gap with the US immediately or risk missing out on further growth, despite outperforming the Eurozone over the previous 6 years. 
3. The US Bureau of Labour Statistics will release its latest US consumer price index report on Wednesday and is predicted to state that consumer price inflation in the US will fall in April to 3.4% from 3.5% in March, which may boost market confidence that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later this year. 
4. Angola, Africa’s second-largest oil producer, is using help from China to alleviate a financial crisis by withdrawing funds from a Chinese-controlled account to pay interest on a critical loan, according to its finance minister.

UK Politics 

1. On 8 May the Home Secretary James Cleverly announced that the UK will expel Russia’s defence attaché for suspected espionage activity. Properties owned by the Russian government in Hawkhurst and Highgate, which have been used for intelligence gathering activities, will also have their diplomatic status revoked.
2. Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke defected to the Labour Party on 8 May. She justified her decision by stating that the “Conservatives have become a byword for incompetence and division”. Keir Starmer has faced some backlash from Labour MPs for accepting Elphicke, who holds strongly conservative views on topics such as immigration. 
3. John Swinney appointed Kate Forbes as Scotland’s new deputy First Minister on 9 May. Forbes, who comes from a socially conservative Christian wing of the SNP, has previously opposed flagship SNP social policies such as the Transgender self-identification bill.
4. On 10 May Keir Starmer announced new measures to tackle illegal immigration should Labour win the next election. Pledging to scrap Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda scheme, Starmer has stated that he wished to tackle the problem “upstream” by cracking down on human-trafficking gangs. 

World Politics

1. Voters in Catalonia headed to the polls on 12 May to cast their ballots in a snap election that will be used to gauge the strength of the regional independence movement. The election was called by Catalan President Pere Aragonès after his government’s proposed budget was rejected by opposition parties. 
2. Thousands of protestors marched through streets in central Tbilisi on 11 May after the Georgian government backed a controversial foreign policy bill. If ratified, the bill would require independent NGOs and media organisations that receive more than 20% of funding from abroad to register as an “organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power.”
3. On 11 May, dozens of graduating students at Virginia Commonwealth University walked out during Governor Glenn Youngkin’s commencement address in a display of solidarity with the pro-Palestinian cause. This comes after several students at Columbia University were arrested for their involvement in similar protests.
4. The social media chief of India’s main opposition party (Indian National Congress Party) was detained on Friday after overseeing the publication of a doctored video which falsely shows the country’s Home Minister, Amit Shah, promising to end affirmative action policies for millions of low-caste Indians in a campaign speech. 

Written by Edgar Brown, Shreyas Veturi and Keshav Hajarnavis