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Briefing Notes
Regulation
CMA's Subsidy Advice Unit opens review of proposed £350m Critical Chemicals Resilience Fund subsidy scheme
The CCRF tests the outer limits of UK industrial policy under the post-Brexit subsidy control framework.
Capital Markets
South East Water Abandons Bond Issue as Investor Confidence Collapses Across UK Water Sector
When a regulated utility can't access bond markets, restructuring becomes unavoidable.
Capital Markets
ECB raises rates and Brent crude holds above $100 as Middle East escalation forces central banks into a higher-for-longer inflation fight
Every deal timed around falling rates now needs repricing: the higher-for-longer assumption is back, and with oil at $100-plus it has teeth.
Energy & Tech
CMA issues open letter to heating oil suppliers warning that unfair contract terms cancelling orders during price spikes breach consumer protection obligations
Heating oil's exclusion from the energy price cap leaves contract law as the only consumer backstop, and the CMA is now enforcing it directly.