Immigration

The Guardian’s Matthew d’Ancona reported yesterday on the twofold situation the UK is currently facing with regards to immigration. Criticising the Tories in his headline, ‘The Tories’ tough talk on immigration is doomed to fail’, d’Ancona summarises the refugee and European migration issues. Cameron is currently experiencing pressure from the Church in particular to exceed the current quota of 20,000 migrants to in excess of 50,000 according to The Guardian. Alongside this, Cameron is also reviewing the European Migration ahead of December’s EU Summit.

Continuing along the theme of European Migration, last week City Career’s commented on the new immigration bill that was discussed in parliament on Tuesday which has now been brought forward to a second reading. The BBC quoted Theresa May who explains that ‘the bill would mean “greater fairness to British citizens and legitimate migrants”’. Similarly, The Guardian also reported that ‘Theresa May had told the assembled party that the number of EU migrants to Britain was “unstainable”, and the rules “have to change”. However, as the BBC explains the bill is still in its early stages and the Immigration Bill still has a lot of progress to be made before completion.

Across the Atlantic Donald Trump comments on immigration ahead of the US elections next year, boldly claiming according to the International Business Times that if ‘“He was president.”…his own proposals to “be extremely, extremely tough on illegal immigration” meant that if he had been “running things” in 2001, “I doubt that those people would've been in the country."’

European Union

Reuters reported on Friday about the troubles the Eurozone is facing as its growth levels appear ‘sluggish’. This has primarily been caused by ‘Lower oil prices dragged euro zone consumer prices into negative territory in September and growth in the currency bloc appears to be slowing again.’ The further downturn of events is resulting in speculation over whether the ECB will expand the quantitative easing measures it has introduced in order to stimulate growth.

Business

As the technology market becomes increasingly more expansive and competitive and the world becomes more economically globalised, it is concerning that the BBC reports this week about the UK technology gap. The BBC states that ‘Over 12 million people, and a million small businesses in the UK do not have the skills to prosper in the digital era’.

Morgan Stanley, one of the biggest US investment banks, has reported falls in profits for the second time this year with a 42% drop for quarter three of 2015. The BBC explains this has come as a result of a fall in ‘revenues for commodity, bond and foreign exchange trading fell’.

The recent Volkswagen scandal regarding emissions has once again captured the headlines this week. Volkswagen, who has admitted to fitting ‘defeat devices’ to ‘pass pollution controls’, has seen a €25bn loss in the market value according to The Telegraph. This is likely to affect around 11 million cars and cost shareholders €40bn. As a result law firms are seeking and advising shareholders to sue the German car manufacturer. For more information on this see links below.

UK Economy

Resilience amongst the Labour party furthered this week as The Guardian reports Jeremy Crobyn’s first leadership defeat as ‘21 backbenchers rejected his anti-austerity economics and refused to vote against George Osborne’s new fiscal rules.’ The fiscal charter is a commitment by the Government to have an ‘overall budget surplus by 2019-20 was passed by 320 to 258’.

The UK’s inflation rate this week has fallen back into negative numbers to -0.1%. As quoted by the BBC the ONS states that ‘a smaller than usual rise in clothing prices, and falling motor fuel prices, were the main contributors to the drop in the rate.’ Essentially the negative inflation rate means that prices are falling, ultimately not incentivising consumers to spend at the present moment but instead wait for prices to fall further.

Global News

Figures released today have shown China’s worse economic growth figures for eight years as the country’s output continues to slow to 6.9%. Whilst these figures seem high in comparison to many Western countries, this slowdown in China has resulted in a worldwide impact. The Guardian explains that this has been caused for several reasons:

• 1. 'An overheated property market in the country has prompted a contraction in construction output while the manufacturing sector has slumped as exports slumped.’
• 2. ‘The decline in heavy industry and construction has depressed demand for oil, iron ore and other commodities, dragging on growth in Australia, Brazil and other supplier countries.’

Antonia Marino |