Sterling Falls To New Four-Month Low As Political Uncertainty Deepens

GBP fell to its weakest levels since January on Wednesday as Britain’s prime minister made a last-ditch bid to get a Brexit deal through parliament before she leaves office, though scepticism from the opposition Labour Party capped gains.

After failing three times to get parliament’s approval for her EU divorce deal, Theresa May said she would present a “new, bold offer” to lawmakers with “an improved package of measures” in a final attempt to secure a Brexit deal.

News reports suggest it (May’s package) is a retread of old ideas and as long as that is the case, the market is going to be very sceptical,

The leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party said he would not support May’s new move to push through her Brexit bill if it was fundamentally the same as the bill that had been defeated three times before.

This inability of the British parliament to compromise on the terms for exiting the European Union has led the market to take a much more binary view on the outcome, between a so-called hard or no-deal Brexit and a second EU referendum.

Adding to this feeling is a poll that showed Boris Johnson, a prominent leader of the Brexit campaign, as top choice among members of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party to replace May as prime minister.

Though there is widespread scepticism that any such deal will get ratified by lawmakers, sterling fell further against the dollar to $1.2660 this morning. That followed a drop of 2.2% last week, its worst week since October 2017.

The British currency was down against the euro this morning once again at 1.1348.