{"id":73362,"date":"2026-10-21T07:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T11:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/uk-pm-burnham-targets-energy-bill-relief-and-eu-food-trade-reset-thermo-fisher-lifts-2026-outlook\/73362\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T07:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T11:38:13","slug":"uk-pm-burnham-targets-energy-bill-relief-and-eu-food-trade-reset-thermo-fisher-lifts-2026-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/uk-pm-burnham-targets-energy-bill-relief-and-eu-food-trade-reset-thermo-fisher-lifts-2026-outlook\/73362\/","title":{"rendered":"UK PM Burnham Targets Energy Bill Relief and EU Food Trade Reset; Thermo Fisher Lifts 2026 Outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham<\/strong> has ordered a review into <strong>scrapping standing charges from gas bills<\/strong> to ease the cost-of-living crisis for millions of households.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thermo Fisher Scientific (<a href=\"\/stock\/TMO\">TMO<\/a>)<\/strong> raised its <strong>FY 2026 guidance<\/strong> following a strong Q3 performance, reporting adjusted EPS of <strong>$6.68<\/strong> on revenue of <strong>$12.14 billion<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The UK government is pursuing a <strong>new agri-food trade deal<\/strong> with the EU ahead of a November 20 summit, aiming for a <strong>\u00a310 billion annual boost<\/strong> to the economy by 2040.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Jackdaw Gas Field<\/strong> has received final approval and is expected to begin supplying gas to homes by the end of October 2026, serving as a &quot;bridge&quot; to renewable energy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>UK Energy Policy: Scrapping Standing Charges and Jackdaw Approval<\/h2>\n<p>In a significant move to lower household energy costs, Prime Minister <strong>Andy Burnham<\/strong> announced during Prime Minister&#39;s Questions (PMQs) that he has instructed the Chancellor and Energy Secretary to examine the removal of <strong>standing charges from gas bills<\/strong>. These fixed daily fees, which average over <strong>\u00a3100 per year<\/strong> regardless of usage, have been a major point of contention for consumer advocates. The Prime Minister stated that the government is seeking to &quot;substantially de-link&quot; gas and electricity prices during this Parliament to provide long-term relief.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement coincided with the final approval of the <strong>Jackdaw gas field<\/strong>, a project the Prime Minister defended as a pragmatic step toward energy security. <em>The field is slated to begin production by the end of the month<\/em>, with the government framing the move as a necessary &quot;bridge&quot; to fund future renewable energy investments. While the opposition criticized the delay in approval, Burnham argued the new approach ensures the resources generated will be directly reinvested into clean energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n<h2>Thermo Fisher Scientific (<a href=\"\/stock\/TMO\">TMO<\/a>) Raises FY 2026 Guidance<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Thermo Fisher Scientific (<a href=\"\/stock\/TMO\">TMO<\/a>)<\/strong> shares are in focus after the life sciences giant reported <strong>Q3 2026 results<\/strong> that surpassed Wall Street expectations. The company posted adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of <strong>$6.68<\/strong>, beating the consensus estimate of <strong>$6.40<\/strong>, while revenue grew <strong>9% year-over-year<\/strong> to <strong>$12.14 billion<\/strong>. This growth was driven by a <strong>6% increase in organic revenue<\/strong>, signaling robust demand across its biopharma and laboratory products segments.<\/p>\n<p>Following the strong quarterly print, management <strong>raised its full-year 2026 guidance<\/strong>. The company&#39;s <strong>PPI Business System<\/strong> was credited with driving a <strong>120 basis point expansion<\/strong> in adjusted operating margins, which reached <strong>24.5%<\/strong>. <em>Investors are closely watching the company&#39;s updated outlook<\/em>, as the life sciences sector continues to recover from post-pandemic volatility and shifts in global research funding.<\/p>\n<h2>UK-EU Relations: The November &quot;Reset&quot; Summit<\/h2>\n<p>Prime Minister Burnham is preparing for a pivotal <strong>UK-EU summit in Brussels on November 20<\/strong>, where he intends to renegotiate key aspects of the post-Brexit trade relationship. A primary focus will be a <strong>new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement<\/strong> to reduce bureaucracy for food and drink exports. Burnham noted that current border checks and paperwork delays cost the <strong>Scottish salmon industry<\/strong> alone approximately <strong>\u00a3100 million<\/strong> in lost exports annually.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Prime Minister faces domestic pressure from the <strong>Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC)<\/strong>, which warned that closer alignment with EU standards could add <strong>\u00a3300 million in annual costs<\/strong> for produce imported from outside the bloc. Burnham has pledged to address these &quot;Made in Europe&quot; risks and protectionist rules during the summit, maintaining that the &quot;status quo is not good enough&quot; for British growth. <em>The government estimates that a successful reset could eventually add \u00a310 billion a year to the UK economy.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has ordered a review into scrapping standing charges from gas bills to ease [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[3886,6378,6502,12972,13236,14452,16657,19606,23342],"class_list":["post-73362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-eps","tag-fpc","tag-life-sciences","tag-brexit","tag-thermo-fisher-scientific-tmo-stock-tmo","tag-sps","tag-andy-burnham","tag-uk-energy","tag-food-trade"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}