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May pulls vote which sees pound sink
There are perhaps not enough superlatives or metaphors to describe the events currently unfolding within the halls of Westminster or Downing Street but an apt one may be is that the ‘left hand does not know what the right hand is doing’.
This was perfectly illustrated early on Monday when a No. 10 spokesperson confirmed that the Meaningful Vote would go ahead today as Michael Gove and everyone assumed. What quickly transpired was that May had shelved the vote and taken the option to avoid a very heavy defeat. There was always the anticipation this week that sterling volatility would be the main theme but yesterday demonstrates once again the importance of considering every Brexit scenario. The pound has dropped to 18 month lows against the Dollar and 2.5 month lows against the Euro. Moving forward, Theresa May is now off back to Brussels to try and renegotiate the Irish backstop agreement but the EU have been adamant that this is the best Brexit deal on offer. Other scenarios to keep an eye out for include a no confidence vote in the government of a leadership challenge. The only thing that is certain within Brexit is that it is not binary whatsoever, it is not a choice between two options and it is not like either one of two scenarios will unfold.
In and amongst all of this Monday also saw the latest release of the UK’s GDP figures which showed flat growth for August and September before hitting the dizzying heights of 0.1% for October – hardly inspiring.