IT really is absolutely no surprise at all that sterling is so weak, given the rambunctious nature of the Conservatives when it comes to Brexit.
Last week’s Conservative Party conference stoked fears that the UK Government favours a “hard Brexit” option with loss of free access to the European single market.
Worryingly, even in the wake of heavy losses for the pound on Friday at the end of what was a grim week for sterling, there seems to be a lack of any desire from the Conservatives to try to tone things down.
Read More: Ian McConnell: Look to sterling for an objective view of what awaits Brexit Britain
The pound remained under very significant pressure on the foreign exchanges yesterday, and there do not seem to be many experts stepping up to proclaim confidently that it will rebound any time soon.
John McLaren, honorary professor at the University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School, noted that it was interesting that sterling had on Friday, after a “flash crash” in Asian trading hours, failed to get back to where it had been before the plunge.
Jeremy Peat, visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde’s International Public Policy Institute, warned that the UK economic outlook appeared “bleak”, with politicians seemingly focusing more on immigration than access to the European single market.
The Conservatives might to some extent prefer a weak currency, in the hope that the dire consequences of Brexit will be masked, for a short while at least, by a rise in exports.
However, you would think they might want to move to stabilise things after what has seemed to be a fairly disorderly fall in the currency, fuelled by their hard talk on the Brexit front.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel