Prime Ministers plan is backed by MPs

MP’s voted last night on amendments made to the withdrawal agreement, with all but two amendments defeated during the vote. Graham Brady’s amendment to replace the Northern Ireland backstop with alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border passed with a majority of 16 votes, and Caroline Spelman’s amendment to reject leaving the EU without a deal won by a majority of 8. Surprisingly, Yvette Coopers plan to extend Article 50 was outvoted by MP’s by 23 votes. The amendment would have set the PM a deadline of February 26 to secure parliamentary approval for an alternative Brexit deal.

The PM has said she will return to Brussels to re-open the Brexit withdrawal agreements, however, the EU have been reported to reject any attempted changes, standing firm saying the withdrawal agreement is not up for renegotiation and is the best deal possible. So could the PM being hitting yet another roadblock in the coming days? With only 58 days left further uncertainty is forecasted, and as we near the deadline could the EU find some wiggle room on the divorce deal or is the PM set to fail and return to the commons with the same deal on the table?

Following the votes, Sterling fell 0.7% against the Dollar and 0.8% against the Euro. Currency reaction to the votes show that Brexit is still a key driver for the Pound and we should expect further volatility in the coming weeks as Brexit develops. Although we have seen a small loss for those looking to sell Sterling, the current levels are still very close to the highs of the past few days, so if you do have a currency requirement to secure it is still worth considering making use of our forward contracts to lock in a rate for a future requirement.

Stay in touch with us here at Currency Index to stay up to date on rates and talk to one our our team about our other options to help you lock in your currency requirement and remove the headache of market fluctuations.