Pound hits two-year low
The pound has fallen to its lowest level in more than two years after pledges by both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt to ditch a key part of the UK-EU withdrawal agreement intensified City fears over a no-deal Brexit.
With Brussels insisting that an agreement to maintain a seamless border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic is non-negotiable, investors at one point drove the pound below $1.24 – a level last seen in the spring of 2017.
The pound’s losses against the US currency intensified after a Sky News report that Johnson was considering sending MPs home during the days leading up to the Brexit deadline day of 31 October.
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said: “The instability and uncertainty caused by the Conservative party leadership contest has real-world consequences.”