UK Economics

1. On 19 September the Bank of England chose to hold its base rate at 5%. This came after CPI inflation remained at 2.2% in August, unchanged from July.
2. Also on 19 September, Thames Water announced it would be going to the High Court to seek an agreement with its lenders to extend its debt terms. The embattled firm, currently £18bn in debt, has made the move in a last ditch attempt to avoid nationalisation.
3. Harland & Wolff PLC, the firm which owns the iconic Belfast dockyards where the Titanic was built, went into insolvency on 21 September. The race is now on to find a buyer or 1200 jobs may disappear, alongside one of the final remnants of Britain’s shipbuilding industry. 
4. Speculation is growing ahead of the government’s new budget scheduled for 30 October. Keir Starmer has warned that “painful” measures will be necessary, potentially including a rise in capital gains tax and the introduction of new wealth taxes.

World Economics

1. In an attempt to create supply chains independent of China, Taiwan and the US want to encourage cooperation between respective drone industries. For a three-day summit, executives from 26 US companies that manufacture unmanned systems or anti-drone equipment will arrive in Taipei on Sunday.
2. Initiating its first cycle of rate cuts since the pandemic began, the Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday and hinted at additional reductions to come. The federal funds rate is now between 4.75-5%.
3. Chinese EV manufacturer BYD is shifting its car export strategy to Pakistan after facing regulatory and political challenges in India. The company is taking advantage of Pakistan’s increasing demand for electric vehicles, using its established infrastructure in Asia to grow its market share and boost regional expansion.
4. The president of the European Central Bank has warned that the global economy is facing rifts similar to those that led to “economic nationalism,” the breakdown of global trade in the 1920s, and ultimately the Great Depression.

UK Politics

1. At its conference on 21 September, Reform UK members voted to approve a new party constitution. Originally founded as a PLC with Nigel Farage as the sole owner, the party now plans to become a not-for-profit organisation. Farage stated that he is “giving ownership of the party and the big decisions over to the members”.
2. On 17 September Ed Davey spoke to the Liberal Democrat party conference in York. He challenged the Labour government to raise taxes on banks and the wealthy to “winterproof” the NHS. 
3. This week the Prime Minister has been subject to intense scrutiny, after it emerged that Keir Starmer and his wife accepted over £16,000 in clothing and glasses from Labour peer Lord Alli. Starmer claims he obeyed parliamentary rules on donations, but has nonetheless agreed to stop accepting clothing gifts going forwards.
4. The deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have also been embroiled in criticism, after it emerged that both had declared clothing donations worth thousands of pounds as ‘general office support’. 

World Politics

1. Sri Lankans elected Anura Kumara Dissanayake as their next president on 22 September. Dissanayake campaigned on a platform of anti-corruption and stability. It was the first time in Sri Lankan history that the presidential election was decided by a run-off tally between the top two candidates, after neither managed to cross the 50% threshold in the first round.
2. On 19 September, the American Republican Party was plunged into crisis following a bombshell report revealing the dozens of lewd comments on an adult video site made by North Carolina gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson. Mr Robinson proclaimed that he was a “black Nazi” among other things that stand in contrast to the public stances he has taken on contentious social issues, including women’s reproductive rights.
3. US President Joe Biden met with the other leaders of the Quad alliance (comprising of Japan, Australia and India) in his hometown of Wilmington on 21 September in order to reportedly discuss Chinese geopolitical threats. 
4. French Prime Minister Michel Barnier revealed his new government on 21 September, thus ending a 67-day transition period. Mr Barnier, who was appointed on 5 September, has put together a cabinet that is speculated to be the most right-wing in recent years.

Written by Shreyas Veturi, Keshav Hajarnavis, Edgar Brown