The Heritage Partnership

Burnham’s Britain: economic priorities to consider?

With Andy Burnham now leading the UK Government, the new administration faces a number of significant economic challenges.

From productivity and youth unemployment to inflation, borrowing costs and a rising tax burden, the UK’s economic outlook presents a complex set of priorities for policymakers.

This latest article explores six key areas that could shape the UK’s economic direction in the years ahead and the challenges involved in balancing growth, investment and fiscal responsibility.

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Burnham's Britain: economic priorities to consider? With the support of 90% of Labour MPs (349 in total), Andy Burnham has replaced Sir Keir Starmer as the UK’s prime minister for the remainder of this parliament, ending in August 2029 (at the latest). While pledging to do things differently, there are many challenges ahead. We take a closer look a...

🌟 St James's Place Webinar 🌟

Following a renewed escalation of conflict in the Middle East, geopolitical uncertainty has once again come into sharp focus. Together with the ongoing war in Ukraine, these developments continue to raise questions about the outlook for global markets.

Join us as we hear from David Rees, Head of Global Economics at Schroders, as he revisits the market outlook, assesses what has changed and discusses the implications for economies, financial markets and investors.

Event Details:
Wednesday, 12 August 2026
12pm - 1pm UAE
4pm - 5pm Singapore | Hong Kong

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6geV68aVSFGIRwP86ch93w #/registration

We look forward to welcoming you there!

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Weekly Market Watch, where we give you a quick rundown of last week’s market news in just 5 minutes:

📈The UK’s incremental 0.1% economic growth in May was unexpected but welcome. A rebound from the contraction in April, it was also ahead of consensus expectations. The key driver was the services sector, which accounts for the bulk of the domestic economy. The performance here was driven by research and development in medical sciences. Retailers also did well, buoyed by the warm weather.

📊Assuming June’s numbers don’t disappoint, the UK economy could see growth of 0.3%-0.4% in the second quarter, which would be ahead of consensus. Separately, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s June forecast for UK economic growth (GDP) in 2026 is 0.9%, followed by 1.1% in 2027. This contrasts with the 1.3% delivered in 2025.

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WeekWatch - 20/07/2026 The UK’s incremental 0.1% economic growth in May was unexpected but welcome. A rebound from the contraction in April, it was also ahead of consensus expectations. The key driver was the services sector, which accounts for the bulk of the domestic economy. The performance here was driven by researc...

For many internationally mobile professionals, life no longer fits neatly within one country. Careers, families, assets and future retirement plans often span multiple borders.

So how are expats navigating the financial complexities that come with a global lifestyle?

Our latest Money on the Move 2026 research explores how internationally mobile individuals are approaching cross-border wealth, retirement, succession planning and financial decision-making. The findings reveal an important theme: as opportunities grow across borders, so does the need for a clear, long-term financial plan.

Swipe through some of the key findings and read the full report to see how internationally mobile individuals are planning for the future.

St. James’s Place Asia & Middle East | Money on the Move 2026 report – Singapore Edition St. James’s Place Wealth Management

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Weekly Market Watch, where we give you a quick rundown of last week’s market news in just 5 minutes:

📈Germany's Industry giant Volkswagen’s (VW) share price has been on a downward trend since 2021. It was down over 30% year-to-date as of Friday. Profits have also been under pressure for much of this time last week, VW announced a series of drastic measures to make the business more competitive. These could include the loss of 100,000 workers and up to four plant closures in Germany. Such moves would likely have to overcome powerful labour unions, though.

📊Germany isn’t the only country facing issues. The Japanese yen is currently trading against the dollar at levels not seen for 40 years.

Since 2024, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has been selling US Treasuries to try to prop up its currency. At the same time, interest rates have gradually climbed to levels not seen in Japan since 1995 - 1.0% - to deal with demand-driven inflation and wage growth. However, that is still significantly lower than that of the Fed.

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WeekWatch The famous Peking Duck found itself at the centre of an international row last week, as the EU launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of the bird from China.

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Weekly Market Watch, where we give you a quick rundown of last week’s market news in just 5 minutes:

📈June’s US jobs report, released just before markets closed for the 4th July holiday, raised quite a few eyebrows. 57,000 new jobs were created in the month, well short of the 113,000 estimate. The hospitality and leisure sectors lost jobs, at odds with expectations the FIFA World Cup would provide a boost.

The market reaction was to push stocks higher, while bond prices fell (yields move in the opposite direction). In the stock market, the rotation continued away from mega-cap AI-related companies. Previous laggards, such as healthcare and consumer-related companies rallied.

📊Alongside the disappointing jobs growth, the unemployment rate fell from 4.3% to 4.2%. Intuitively, fewer people out of work is good news, but a close examination may suggest a more worrying reason. Some analysts suggest this reflects people are dropping out of the pool of available workers, i.e a lower worker participation, maybe as baby-boomers retire, as well as there being fewer immigrants in the workforce following recent government crackdowns. It is unclear whether this workforce contraction is a one-off correction or something that could be more structural.

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WeekWatch - 06/07/2026 June’s US jobs report, released just before markets closed for the 4th July holiday, raised quite a few eyebrows. 57,000 new jobs were created in the month, well short of the 113,000 estimate. The hospitality and leisure sectors lost jobs, at odds with expectations the FIFA World Cup would provide...

✨Our Charity Challenge. Their New Beginning✨

We're very proud to see this project come full circle. After our virtual team challenge and fundraising efforts, the new classrooms at the Frances Ita Centre are now complete and filled with children. 🏫📚

Seeing children learning in a safe, bright and welcoming space makes every kilometre covered and every donation received feel even more worthwhile.

Education creates opportunity and we're grateful to have played a part in giving these children a place to learn, grow and build their futures. 🌱📖

Every contribution made a difference and together we've helped create something that will benefit these children for years to come.

Seeing these classrooms filled with eager children is the best reward of all.❤️

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Weekly Market Watch, where we give you a quick rundown of last week’s market news in just 5 minutes:

📈Markets endured a tough period last week, despite oil prices finally falling to their pre-Iran conflict level.

Following a 60-day ceasefire and a memorandum of understanding signed earlier in June, Brent has fallen rapidly from its mid-May peak of $110 a barrel, reaching just over $72 a barrel last week. The last time prices were this low was on 28 February, the day the US and Israel began strikes on Iran.

📊With the price of oil dropping, and with fewer interest rate hikes priced in, it might be surprising that last week proved painful for several tech companies.

SpaceX, for example, saw a notable fall at the start of the week. Its share prices were down to around $150, from a peak of over $210 the week before.

The company was just one example in a tech sector that saw a notable reverse over the period. The tech-heavy NASDAQ finished the week down more than 4%, for example.

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WeekWatch - 29/06/2026 Following a 60-day ceasefire and a memorandum of understanding signed earlier in June, Brent has fallen rapidly from its mid-May peak of $110 a barrel, reaching just over $72 a barrel last week. The last time prices were this low was on 28 February, the day the US and Israel began strikes on Iran.

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Weekly Market Watch, where we give you a quick rundown of last week’s market news in just 5 minutes:

📈It was a holiday-shortened week in the US, with markets ending higher. Markets also experienced their first Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate decision under the leadership of new chair Kevin Warsh. Meanwhile we also saw the tentative reopening of Strait of Hormuz, as well as the signing of a 60-day memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the US and Iran in advance of more substantive talks.

📊After weeks of speculation and growing pressure, Keir Starmer announced his resignation as prime minister on 22 June. It comes after just under two years in office and means the UK will soon have its fifth prime minister in as many years. However, the next steps remain unclear. Even in the event of a smooth ‘coronation’ to a successor, the process could take several weeks.

Immediately after the announcement, the UK market took Starmer’s resignation largely in its stride, although the pound weakened in anticipation of his resignation. The FTSE was very marginally down while gilts held steady in the hours after the news was released on Monday morning. However, a big question, not least for markets, will be who becomes the next chancellor if, as expected, Rachel Reeves is moved from her current position.

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WeekWatch - 22/06/2026 After weeks of speculation and growing pressure, Keir Starmer announced his resignation as prime minister on 22 June. It comes after just under two years in office and means the UK will soon have its fifth prime minister in as many years. However, the next steps remain unclear. Even in the event of....