The pound falls as May warns Parliament rejecting her Brexit deal would kickstart no-deal preparations
The pound has fallen to a weekly low against the euro this morning as Theresa May was grilled by a Commons committee over her Brexit deal.
The Prime Minister defended her withdrawal agreement in front of the House of Commons liaison committee just a day after the Bank of England's bleak no-deal forecast, in which GDP, house prices and the pound itself would fall sharply.
May said losing next month's parliamentary vote on the deal would kickstart preparations for a no-deal Brexit.
She said: “The timetable is such that actually some people would need to take some practical steps in relation to no deal if the parliament were to vote down the deal on the 11th of December,"
The pound has fallen 0.5 per cent against the dollar to $1.2759 and dropped 0.3 per cent against the euro to €1.112.
XTB analyst David Cheetham said: “Negative assessments on future growth prospects post-Brexit from chancellor Philip Hammond and the Bank of England have unsurprisingly drawn widespread criticism from Brexiteers.
“But while they may have a case in claiming the forecasts are overly gloomy, at the moment there’s nothing but wishful thinking to suggest the economy won’t slow significantly.”
MPs are set to vote on May's Brexit deal on 11 December and growing uncertainty over whether it will be approved, coupled with the Bank's no-deal forecasts has led the pound to slide at the end of a rocky month for the currency.
The pound reached highs of $1.312 earlier this month before a raft of resignations, led by Jo Johnson and followed by Dominic Raab, and uncertainty over the tabled withdrawal agreement sent the currency tumbling to $1.27.