Speaker John Bercow ruled out MV3 if agreement remains ‘substantially the same’ as last week
The pound tanked on Monday afternoon as Speaker of the House John Bercow announced that he would not allow Theresa May’s twice-rejected withdrawal agreement to go to a third ‘meaningful’ vote if it remains ‘substantially the same’ as it appeared last week.
Sterling was already feeling pretty sour before Bercow’s surprise statement. Following the Speaker’s speech its losses widened, the currency plunging 0.7% against the dollar and 0.8% against the euro.
Given that the Prime Minister is going to have a time of trying to get a vote past Bercow, the pound appears to be reacting poorly to the removal of one of the more favourable Brexit options, i.e. the successful passing of May’s deal.
It now seems that the government will have to ask the EU for a significant extension, with the bloc reportedly set to offer a 9-month delay; that the extension wouldn’t be even longer is perhaps another source of anxiety for the pound.
The FTSE, already the day’s best performer, was delighted by sterling’s slide. Combine the currency’s latest crisis with a perky set of mining stocks and the UK index rose 60 points, crossing 7290 for the first time in 5 months.
Elsewhere there was less excitement. The DAX was down 0.3% despite Deutsche Bank’s Commerzbank-merger related gains, while the Dow Jones dipped 0.1% at the start of what may be a Fed-dominated week for the US markets.
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