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21st Sep 2018

British pound flops against the dollar following Theresa May’s Brexit speech

Kate Demolder

sterling euro

The GBP may, on Friday, experience the biggest one-day drop in value this year so far.

The British Pound has swiftly dropped on Friday afternoon after the highly combative speech Theresa May gave at 10 Downing Street highlighting the lack of mutual respect shown between the UK and EU in Brexit negotiations.

Both nations have reached an impasse and the Prime Minister came out swinging to defend her nation as a result.

She said the EU referendum was the biggest democratic exercise in the country’s history and that for over two years she has worked “day and night” and worked to “bring people with me.”

“No-one wants a good deal more than me, but the EU should be clear I will not overturn the result of the referendum, nor will I break up my country”,” she said.

Sterling volatility was expected during the speech, but as May’s speech ended shortly after 2pm GMT, the pound (GBP) was down 1.4% against the dollar and around 1% against the euro.

The speech has led sceptics to believe that a hard Brexit is on the horizon, which has resulted in the pound tanking considerably, shortly after.

May’s Downing Street statement followed the end of summit talks on Thursday in Salzburg which had initially been set up to allow a free flow of communication between the Prime Minister, European diplomats and leaders.

It was hoped that everyone would co-operate and rally up support for a Brexit deal at home.

However, this did not materialise as the summit itself ended in the President of the European Council claiming that Theresa May’s current Brexit trade suggestions “will not work”.

The United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union is scheduled for March 2019.