This House of Lords Library Briefing has been prepared in advance of the debate scheduled to take place in the House of Lords on 22 March 2018 on the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018 and on the International Relations Committee report, 'Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018'.
CHOGM 2018 (392 KB , PDF)
From 16 to 20 April 2018, the United Kingdom will host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The summit will focus on delivering four outcomes under the theme of working ‘towards a common future’. The outcomes are: prosperity by boosting intra-Commonwealth trade and investment; security and increasing cooperation to tackle issues such as cybercrime and human trafficking; fairness by promoting democracy across the Commonwealth; and sustainability through building the resilience of smaller states to deal with the effects of climate change and global crises. In her speech at the meeting, the Prime Minister, Theresa May, will outline the need for the Commonwealth to have a clearer purpose, and to be better able to address the global challenges that the Commonwealth faces.
Preceding the Heads of Government Meeting will be four forums: the Commonwealth Youth Forum; the Commonwealth Women’s Forum; the Commonwealth Business Forum; and the Commonwealth People’s Forum.
This Briefing examines the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the desired outcomes of the meeting. It also details recent parliamentary activity about the 2018 meeting, including the recommendations and conclusions made by the House of Lords International Relations Committee in its report, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018, published on 7 February 2018. In addition, this Briefing provides a background to the Commonwealth and some of its bodies.
CHOGM 2018 (392 KB , PDF)
This briefing is the fifth of a series on the post-war history of the UK economy. The series proceeds decade-by-decade from the 1950s onwards, providing an overview of the key macroeconomic developments of each decade. This fifth briefing looks at the 1990s. In this decade the UK economy settled into a period of low inflation and steady growth; however, living standards growth was lower and more regionally concentrated than in previous decades.
The Budget Responsibility Bill would require ministers to request an assessment from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) for every major fiscal announcement and give the OBR the power to decide to publish one if the minister failed to request it. This follows the September 2022 ‘mini-budget’. The statement included plans that would have resulted in a projected £45bn reduction in tax income. It did not have an accompanying OBR assessment.
In November 2023, the Harrington review of foreign direct investment made recommendations about how the UK could attract more cross-border investment. The new Labour government has said tackling barriers to investment is a priority.
