Sterling plunged to lows last traded more than two years ago yesterday as markets responded to the growing risk that Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy could lead Britain to a no-deal exit from the EU within months.
Mr Johnson’s demand that the controversial Irish backstop must be ditched has been repeatedly rejected by Brussels, with one EU diplomat warning that the frontrunner in the Tory leadership contest appeared to be living in “a fantasy” world.
The pound fell 0.9 per cent to $1.2399 — its lowest since April 2017. That leaves it on course for its biggest single-session fall since March and below the level hit in a “flash crash” this January.