20 July 2026: Thames Water creditors are open to talks with Andy Burnham on more ‘public control’

It is a case of “third time lucky” for Andy Burnham later today, as the former Mayor of Manchester takes over from Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister. Burnham has succeeded on his third attempt, having failed twice before.

It has been a meteoric rise to the top, twenty-five years in the making. When the newly appointed MP for Makerfield lost to Jeremy Corbyn in the last election he stood in, he disappeared back to his home in the north-west with his tail between his legs, his ambition seemingly dashed at the final hurdle. Now, thanks to a disastrous set of local election results and the former MP for Makerfield’s willingness to stand down to allow him to stand, Burnham, only an MP for a little more than a month, has succeeded in scaling Westminster’s battlements.

Burnham’s narrative is comforting, tidy, and entirely wrong. The mainstream consensus insists that by expanding local powers, standardising regional transport, and leaning heavily on state-directed infrastructure partnerships, the UK will magically unlock productivity that has been dormant for decades.

It is a pleasant fantasy. It is also a recipe for managed decline.

Devolution, in its current British form, is not a strategy for growth. It is the redistribution of bureaucratic inertia. After spending two decades analysing regional investment structures and watching local authorities burn through capital on vanity projects, the reality is stark: duplicating Whitehall's administrative bloat across the North of England does not create wealth. It merely relocates the red tape.

The fundamental flaw in Burnham's British reboot is the assumption that structural reorganisation equals economic dynamism. It does not.

The creditors bidding to rescue Thames Water remain confident they can present a revised takeover proposal to Burnham’s government, even as they prepare for the possibility that ministers will reject the deal.

Turnaround specialist Mike McTighe, working with the largest group of Thames Water’s creditors, said UK and international investors are willing to work with incoming ministers to “rebuild confidence” in the debt-laden firm.

McTighe said: “We are keen to meet new ministers as soon as possible to discuss how we can work together in the best interests of customers, including by enhancing public control of the company’s operations.

“We remain ready and willing to recapitalise Thames Water, return it to investment grade, and begin the long process of turning it around.

“We urgently need Government engagement to begin that process.”

Burnham is set to announce his Cabinet later today, with most eyes on who he will choose to replace Rachel Reeves as Chancellor, as the UK’s first female Finance Minister is believed to be about to lose her job.

It will be an ignominious end for Reeves, who has faced severe storms over her qualifications for the role as well as accusations that she has forsaken the country’s farming community, as she has strived to “balance the country’s books”

Burnham is the first incoming Labour leader since 1983 to explicitly promise to undo Thatcherism through public ownership, regional power, and an end to trickle-down economics. This is not spin; it is directly stated in his speeches and in reporting.

Thatcherism, however, is not just a set of policies; it’s an institutional architecture: centralised Whitehall control, market-driven utilities, fiscal caution, and political fear of public ownership. Burnham challenges all four, but faces serious constraints.

Burnham’s decentralisation agenda, “the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen”, aims to shift tax, skills, housing, and industrial powers to the regions and to create Number 10 North as a parallel governing hub in Manchester.

Thatcherism centralised power in Whitehall; Burnham wants to dismantle that architecture.

The pound strengthened last week, gaining against most major currencies and extending a multi-week uptrend. The move was driven by the prospect of political stability in the UK, softness in the U.S. dollar, and expectations of further Bank of England tightening.

Sterling rose to a high of 1.3558 but failed to hold all its gains, closing at 1.3450.

Argentina's Cristian Romero, not a man to shy away from controversy, appeared to ignore US President Donald Trump's outstretched hand during the runners-up medal ceremony at the 2026 World Cup final.

Spain claimed the World Cup title after defeating the defending champions 1-0 in extra time, with Ferran Torres netting the crucial goal after Argentina were reduced to 10 men when Enzo Fernández received a red card in the 93rd minute.

Yet it was the events after the final whistle and throughout the trophy presentation that drew the greatest attention.

Despite being substituted during an underwhelming performance in the final, 28-year-old Tottenham defender Romero still managed to leave his mark by apparently ignoring Trump altogether.

Anyway, it's all over now, and regular Americans can look forward to the start of the NFL and NBA seasons while enjoying the second half of the baseball season.

The positive effect of a tournament that was not without its controversies will have provided a boost to the U.S. economy.

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh hammered home the message last week that the US Central Bank is on inflation watch. The test of delivering on that promise could come soon.

Fed officials are expected to leave interest rates unchanged when they gather in Washington next week. But the “family fight” that Warsh has advocated could come to a head in the meetings that follow, amid a renewed surge in oil prices and an artificial-intelligence boom that has sent technology and equipment costs soaring.

The tension was clear amid a week-long blitz of commentary just before Fed officials entered a mandatory quiet period ahead of their July decision, as some officials warned of an urgent need to act while others signalled there was still time to wait for more data.

Warsh himself led the chorus with a clear message: The Fed has no tolerance for inflation; persistent price hikes won't last under his watch; and better-than-expected June inflation data left them far from declaring mission accomplished. “My commitment to you is to take sticky prices and to unstick them,” Warsh told lawmakers during testimony on Capitol Hill.

Americans’ economic mood improved earlier this month as gasoline prices cooled, according to the preliminary results of the University of Michigan’s monthly survey.

The survey’s sentiment index rose to 54.4 in its initial July reading, up from 49.5 in June. Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected the index to reach 50.5.

The initial result is based on responses received between June 23 and July 13. During that period, the average U.S. gasoline price was $3.86, down from $4.49 in May, according to AAA data.

Over the past week, gasoline prices have climbed again as the conflict in Iran reignited. Joanne Hsu, the director of the Michigan survey, said the index’s gains could prove short-lived if gasoline prices remain high.

“Sentiment’s upward momentum may prove difficult to sustain if recent declines in gas prices continue to reverse course,” according to market analysis.

The Michigan survey will publish a final July figure that incorporates more recent consumer responses in two weeks.

Consumers’ long-run inflation expectations held steady compared with June. Long-run inflation expectations are closely watched by Federal Reserve officials, who worry that a lack of confidence in their ability to rein in inflation could itself contribute to an inflationary increase in wages and spending.

Inflation data published this week by the Labour Department showed that consumer prices declined in June, pulling down the 12-month inflation rate to 3.5%.3.5%.

The dollar weakened last week, recording a broad-based decline against most major currencies as soft U.S. inflation, reduced expectations for Fed rate hikes, and geopolitical tensions shaped market flows. Safe-haven demand briefly supported the greenback midweek, but not enough to offset overall softness.

The dollar index fell to a low of 100.35 and closed at 100.76.

The European Central Bank is likely to hold off on a second interest-rate hike in the coming week while keeping that option open for September.

After raising borrowing costs in June following a spike in energy prices, officials initially expressed confidence that peace negotiations between Washington and Tehran would limit the conflict’s fallout on euro-zone consumer prices.

If the Fed is on inflation watch, the ECB is on war alert!

Renewed missile strikes from both sides and uncertainty over vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz have put them back to square one, according to Greek central bank Governor Yannis Stournaras.

Data since the June meeting probably won’t prompt immediate action on Thursday. Oil and gas prices are close to the baseline scenario policymakers outlined last month, and inflation has slowed more than expected.

An ECB bank-lending survey due on Tuesday is unlikely to change the picture significantly.

That gives officials time to assess how the situation evolves over the summer. President Christine Lagarde can point to a wealth of data arriving before the September gathering, including two more inflation releases, a reading on second-quarter growth, and several business surveys.

The first of those comes on Friday, when S&P Global publishes its monthly purchasing managers’ poll. In June, the composite measure for the currency bloc rose to exactly 50, the threshold separating expansion from contraction.

Investors and economists expect the new information to ultimately convince the ECB Governing Council to deliver more tightening at its Sept. 10 decision.

Large though it may be, Germany's economy is far from healthy. Growth has been flatlining since 2019. Battered by U.S. tariffs and Chinese competition, manufacturers have been shedding thousands of jobs. A desperate government is grasping for ideas to get the engine going again.

One of them: to shore up consumption, which has stagnated in recent years, by opening retail across the whole week. Yet the effort faces formidable cultural and bureaucratic barriers, as evidenced by clashes with what are commonly called the Sunday shopping police.

From Monday to Saturday, stores in Germany operate much like those in any other market economy. On Sundays, however, shutters remain shut, turning city centres into eerie, echoey deserts.

The rule is rooted in Article 140 of the 1949 constitution. Borrowed from its Weimar- era predecessor, it proclaims Sundays and holidays “days of rest from work and of spiritual elevation.”

While many sectors enjoy exemptions, the rule applies strictly to retailers, who may not sell anything on Sunday except the simplest necessities, such as bread, drinks, snacks, cigarettes and alcohol.

Critics of the ban say what constitutes spiritual elevation is hardly straightforward. Why should eating ice cream and going bowling qualify but not buying a novel? asks Martina Tittel, who runs two bookshops and a publishing house in Berlin.

“Germany is a secular state,” she said. “If people want to go to church, then they should go to church, and if they want to go shopping, then they should do that, too.”

Economic pressure is now mounting to water down the rule. When the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz unveiled measures to kick-start the moribund economy this month, it said it would allow municipal libraries to open and bakers to trade for longer on Sundays.

Instead of pacifying advocates of full liberalisation, the move sparked a backlash from retail organisations, which are now urging Berlin to go all the way and scrap most Sunday restrictions, as others from France to Italy have done.

The euro traded with a softer undertone last week, recording mixed results across major currencies, with a mostly negative performance. It rose slightly against the USD and JPY, but fell against most others, especially commodity-linked currencies and GBP.

Versus the dollar, the single currency rallied to a high of 1.1482 and closed at 1.1439.

Have a great day!