Theresa May delivered a speech yesterday that was clearly designed to gather support for her Brexit plans. After No 10 released letters between the Prime Minister, Tusk and Juncker, she spoke about Brexit and how, if her Brexit deal is rejected, no Brexit would become more likely than no deal. Interestingly, May refused to firmly rule out extending article 50, although she said that she doesn’t believe the government should.
Sterling had a decent start to the week, as it made more ground against the euro and dollar. It has been climbing higher throughout the day, but when Robert Peston sent out a Tweet suggesting that the European Research Council will be voting for May’s deal tomorrow, sterling spiked. It pushed above $1.29 at one point but slipped back soon after – it might well be because of the caveat that May will have their support unless Hilary Benn withdraws his amendment. We can expect to see further volatility throughout the week, although in which direction the main moves will be is almost entirely dependent on what happens in the aftermath of the Brexit vote.
There are no economic data releases on the schedule today, which is perhaps just as well given that at 7pm we will see the Parliamentary vote on the Brexit deal. There have been reports that MPs plan to take control of Brexit if May’s bill fails, although a leading Tory rebel has denied this. I guess we will see later tonight.
