Last week, the pound rallied after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson managed to secure a new withdrawal agreement with the EU in the nick of time. However, things have sort of gone downhill from there and we still lack clarity about Brexit.
On Saturday, the UK Parliament gathered to supposedly vote on Boris Johnson’s deal. However, MPs ended up passing an amendment instead, that would force the Prime Minister to pass a full withdrawal agreement bill, which outlines how the agreement will be implemented.
The Prime Minister came up with a 110-page bill to present on Monday, as well as a timetable that allows Parliament three days to consider the bill or propose amendments to it. As many MPs considered this was not enough time for such important legislation, the timetable was not approved. But the Prime Minister had threatened that if Parliament does not back the timetable, he will give up on the bill and force general elections instead.
Right now Boris Johnson has put the withdrawal bill on halt. The United Kingdom is awaiting a decision from the European Union about whether to grant a three-month extension to the Brexit deadline, again. If a delay is agreed, we are most likely going to see elections before any concrete action regarding Brexit.
The British pound slumped on Tuesday but today is recovering, as a no-deal Brexit seems unlikely. The sterling reached 1.2880 against the dollar and 86.38 against the euro.