Key View

• UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal deal is on course to be defeated in a House of Commons vote on 15 January.
• Last minute assurances from the EU regarding the Northern Ireland backstop and pleas from the UK government are unlikely to garner enough votes from pro-Brexit and anti-Brexit MPs to see the deal approved.
• A

Key View:

• The UK’s Q318 above-trend growth will unlikely continue in 2019. Lingering Brexit uncertainties will continue to weigh on corporate investment activity, while weakening consumer confidence will rein in private spending.
• Some of the tailwinds that have supported growth in the third quarter look set to subside and will gradually morph

Key View

• The funding of five new artificial intelligence (AI) centres will support the government’s drive to use AI to improve early disease detection and free up NHS resources for direct patient care.
• The AI centres will bring together doctors, businesses and academics to develop products using advances in digital technology to improve early

Key view

• The UK’s 2018 Budget signals a break with the government’s pledge to push through an austerity agenda.
• While partly reflecting the government’s genuine concerns about the impact of Brexit on economic growth, we believe that the main reason behind this policy shift is political rather than economic.
• We now believe that a balanced

The Latest: The 27 remaining members of the EU approved the UK's Withdrawal Text on November 25 in Brussels, as we at Fitch Solutions argued they would (see 'Quick View: Crucial Week For Brexit Negotiations', November 19). The agreement ended over 20 months of negotiations between the UK and the EU over the terms of the country's divorce from the

The Latest: Since our last update (see 'Quick View: Prospective Brexit Deal Faces Major Hurdles', November 14), the UK's political crisis has deepened. The resignation of Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab on November 15, followed by several other ministerial resignations, has increased the pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May and unnerved financial

The Latest: Latest retail sales data suggests that the pace of the UK economic expansion may have been easing further over the last quarter of 2018 and we remain somewhat less confident in the growth outlook than some hard data would suggest, and more wary of possible downside risks. Despite an ongoing pick up in wages, which grew at their fastest

The Latest: On 9 November a letter from UK Prime Minister Theresa May to the leadership of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was leaked, exposing the UK government's potential plan to agree to a so-called 'backstop to the backstop' related to the future of the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic after Brexit

Key View:

• The introduction of a GBP16.0/tonne carbon emissions tax in the event of a no-deal Brexit is a positive development for industry, reducing uncertainty with regard to the composition of future carbon tax in a no-deal scenario.
• Furthermore, ambiguous rhetoric around the future of the UK’s current Carbon Price Floor from 2021 raises