The FTSE 100 has held above 10,300 with energy heavyweights BP and Shell lifted by Monday’s surge in Brent crude. The resource-heavy index has outperformed European peers even as UK consumer confidence stays weak and growth forecasts hover around 1%.
The European Commission’s proposed 28th company-law regime, dubbed EU Inc, aims to give startups a single pan-European legal form and cut cross-border scaling costs. As part of the post-Draghi competitiveness agenda, it promises a unified market entry across 27 states but raises concerns over labour standards and national co-determination.
Reform UK consolidated its polling lead at between 28% and 33% nationally on 27 May 2026, while the wealth tax debate intensified inside the Labour Party amid Sir Tony Blair’s broadside against Sir Keir Starmer. With Andy Burnham’s Westminster path now formally open, the political landscape is fracturing at unprecedented speed across the four UK nations.
Brussels-watchers face an exceptionally dense agenda this week: the Competitiveness Council convenes on 28 May for Internal Market and Industry under Cypriot chair Michael Damianos, followed by Research and Space on 29 May. The European Innovation Council Summit 2026 runs in parallel, while preparations begin for the 23-24 June European Council.
Three weeks after Nigel Farage posed with winning Reform UK councillors outside Havering Town Hall on 8 May, the political map of England has visibly shifted. Reform UK is consistently polling first nationally, taking control of councils across the Midlands and the North, and posing a structural challenge to both Labour and the Conservatives ahead of the next general election.
Between 26 May and 1 June 2026, the EU institutional agenda intensifies ahead of the June European Council, with foreign ministers gathering for the informal Gymnich meeting on 27-28 May, the Competitiveness Council debating the Industrial Accelerator Act on 28-29 May, and the EU-Western Balkans summit setting strategic enlargement direction.
The UK government has published the implementation timeline for the landmark Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement signed with the European Union last week, setting out a clear roadmap for reducing friction at the border for food and agricultural products between Britain and the continent. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs released the detailed schedule…
EU foreign ministers concluded a critical Foreign Affairs Council meeting on 24 May with agreements spanning Ukraine military assistance, continental defence preparedness, and Middle East security, as the bloc seeks to address an increasingly volatile geopolitical landscape ahead of the 2030 strategic horizon. The Council’s deliberations, which brought together defence and foreign policy chiefs from…
The United Kingdom and European Union signed a landmark veterinary agreement on 23 May 2026, marking the first tangible achievement of the post-Brexit “reset” initiated at last year’s summit and delivering substantial relief to food exporters who have faced costly border checks since Britain’s departure from the single market. The Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement…
The European Union has pledged to strengthen its global partnerships and scale up strategic investments in key regions as it adapts its external action to an increasingly fragmented international landscape, following the Foreign Affairs Council’s Development configuration meeting on 23 May. High Representative Kaja Kallas presented member states with a comprehensive strategic review that places…
