LONDON: The pound fell on Monday as a debate in Britain’s parliament ex­­posed the level of dissatisfaction within British Prime Minister Theresa May’s governing Conservative Party over her plans for Brexit.

The pound fell to an intraday low of $1.3223 on news that May had bowed to pressure from Brexit supporters and accepted their changes to a customs bill that underpins Britain’s exit from the EU.

“The move in sterling is pretty contained at this point but this [accepting of amendments] is being viewed by the market as a step towards a leadership contest,” said Jordan Rochester, currencies strategist at Nomura.

Markets expect the Bank of England to hike interest rates in August but the British currency has fallen 9 per cent since April partly because of the wrangling within May’s party.

Published in Dawn, July 17th , 2018