UK voters go to polls and EY’s new boss starts

Hello and welcome to the working week.

And it is a big week in the UK. On Thursday, British voters are set to go to the polls to pick their next government. It will come as no surprise that the results are not looking too rosy for the incumbent Conservative party. The FT’s poll tracker on the eve of election week still shows a healthy lead for Labour.

But the two main parties are set to collect the lowest combined share of the vote in a century, with polls showing that Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats are commanding greater support.

In Europe, Hungary is set to take over the EU’s rotating presidency on Monday. EU member states have been frustrated in recent months by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s liberal use of its veto to scupper a record number of foreign policy and security issues that require unanimity. But just as Hungary takes over, EU capitals are cooking up several plans to get around the country’s use of its veto.

On the business front, Janet Truncale becomes the new chair and chief executive of EY Global on Monday. She will be replacing Carmine Di Sibio who was the architect of the aborted Project Everest that tried to split the global firm’s accountancy and consulting arms. Another key participant in Project Everest was the head of EY’s UK operations Hywel Ball, who earlier this month announced his plans to step down.

Truncale set out her plans for reforming EY’s global operations at the end of last week. She ruled out returning to Project Everest, instead her new plan — which she dubbed the definitely less dramatic project “All in” — is to simplify the firm’s operations by cutting out some of the many layers of administration.

We are also expected to get a detailed view of the US jobs market when the US Bureau of Labor Statistics releases data on Friday, including US non-farm payroll for June. In May, the US added 272,000 jobs and economists will be hoping that trend will continue.

One more thing . . . 

Whenever I stand in for Jonathan Moules on this newsletter, I like to use this space for something interesting I found while going through the upcoming events for this week. This time was no different. Coming up on Sunday is the British F1 Grand Prix, but on Saturday there is a very different type of race, the World Snail Racing Championships. In Congham, Norfolk, up to 200 snails are expected to (slowly) battle it out for the title of world’s fastest snail.

The course is 13 inches and the current record of two minutes was set by a snail named Archie in 1995. Maybe this year we will see a new snail land-speed record? We can only hope.

In last week’s newsletter we incorrectly stated that Serco was set to announce its half-year results on Thursday. The company was actually reporting it pre-close trading statement, it is expected to announce its half-year results on August 1.

Key economic and company reports

Here is a more complete list of what to expect in terms of company reports and economic data this week.

Monday

• Germany: provisional CPI for June

• Portugal: ECB president Christine Lagarde speaks at the bank’s Forum on Central Banking

• UK: Nationwide house price index

• UK: Clare Lombardelli becomes the Bank of England’s deputy governor for monetary policy

• S&P Global Manufacturing PMI data for June for several countries, including the UK, Germany, Vietnam, France, the US and China

• Establishment day in Hong Kong, financial markets closed

• Janet Truncale becomes the new chair and CEO of EY, succeeding Carmine Di Sibio

• Results: Tata Motors June sales

Tuesday

• EU: Bloc unemployment data for May

• UK: Resolution Foundation publishes its annual wealth audit charting the size and distribution of household finances across the country

• Ukraine: Industrial production for May

• Results: General Motors Q2 sales, Polestar Q1, J Sainsbury Q1 trading statement, Wizz Air June traffic statistics

Wednesday

• Poland: Interest rate decision

• Russia: Central bank holds its Financial Congress events. Speakers include its governor Elvira Nabiullina

• S&P Global PMI for services for the Eurozone and several countries including the UK, China and the US

• US: Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes and economic forecast released

• Results: Constellation Brands Q1 2025

Thursday

• EU: Deadline for the European Commission to decide on a proposed acquisition by Lufthansa of a minority stake in Italy’s state-owned ITA Airways

• EU tariffs on Chinese battery electric vehicle imports come into force

• UK: Monthly car registration figures

• US: Independence day, financial markets closed

Friday

• UK: Halifax House price index for June

• US: Employment report for June

• Venezuela: Independence day, financial markets closed

• Romania: monetary policy decision

• Results: Samsung Electronics Q2 pre-earnings guidance

World events

Finally, here is a rundown of other events and milestones this week.

Monday

• EU: Hungary takes over the rotating presidency of the bloc

• UK: Wimbledon Tennis championship starts in London

• US: Antony Blinken discusses US foreign policy with the Brookings Institution in Washington

Tuesday

• Italy: Il Palio bareback horse race in Siena, Italy where riders race each other through the centre of the city

• UK: Royal society summer science exhibition starts in London

Wednesday

• Kazakhstan: Annual summit for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which is a regional security organisation that includes China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran

• UK: National film awards start in London

Thursday

• France: 90th anniversary of Marie Curie’s death

• UK: Parliamentary elections in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

• US: Fourth of July celebrations across the country, including Macy’s fireworks show in New York

Friday

• 100th anniversary of the Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony, the first city to host the modern version of the games

• UK: London Film and Comic Con begins

Saturday

• UK: The National March for Palestine organised by the Stop the War coalition takes place in London. Organisers expect at least 100,000 people to attend and plan to pressure the UK’s new government to back a ceasefire in Gaza

• UK: World Snail Racing Championships in Norfolk

• First anniversary of Meta launching the Threads app, which it hoped would become a competitor to social media platform X

Sunday

• France: Second round of French parliamentary elections

• UK: F1 British Grand Prix

• UK: Orange Order Drumcree parade in Northern Ireland

• Spain: Running of the bulls in Pamplona