The pound had an interesting day yesterday, to put it mildly, as it fell to below USD1.20 for the first time since 1985, and below EUR1.10 too. It recovered a little as the vote from Parliament came through, by which the Government not only lost its majority but also, potentially, lost its ability to drive through a no-deal Brexit too. The Prime Minister says he will try to call a General Election today.
Hitting the lowest level since 1985 inevitably led some of us to wonder what we were doing 34 years ago. What dangerous days those were. The USSR and USA were still facing off and armed to the teeth, the Troubles in Northern Ireland were going strong, going to a football match was a dangerous sport, with disasters in Bradford and Heysel, there was famine in East Africa and a volcano in Colombia.
But amidst the misery there were green shoots too. Michael Gorbachev became head of the Russian Communist Party. And the Schengen Agreement was signed by five members of the EEC, as the EU was then. Today the Schengen Agreement covers 26 nations and allows free movement around these countries for anyone getting a “golden visa”.
Such visas will be among the many, many ways that we will be able to continue living in the European Union after Brexit – even a no deal.
In the meantime, some say that no deal looks marginally less likely. If so, the chance of a further delay to Brexit, or a transition period of some description, offers another chance to establish residency in the EU. That may be more of an incentive to you to buy than the weak pound is a disincentive. On the other hand, others say that the two most likely outcomes are a Labour government or no deal.
We couldn’t predict either way. But what we do know is that the future of the pound looks extremely volatile. There were even claims yesterday that the pound could be more volatile than the Argentine peso in the days ahead.
So please call your trader on 020 7898 0541 to lock in today’s rate.
