Sterlinghttps://t.co/K4L7Cwio10 pic.twitter.com/6TEaFsnhr1 9.25am BSTIn other election news,an influential economic thinktank has warned that neither of the two major parties are being totally honest with the public over the state of the UK economy.After analysing the election manifestos, the Institute of Fiscal Studies has given both Labour and the Conservatives a destitute score. “The shame of the two big parties’ manifestos is that neither sets out an honest set of choices.”“Compared with Labour, and they are offering a relatively smaller state and consequently lower taxes. With that offer come unacknowledged risks to the quality of public services,and tough choices over spending.”“For Labour we can have pretty much everything - free higher education, free childcare, and more spending on pay,health, infrastructure. “And the pretence is that can all be funded by faceless corporations and the rich’. Related: General election 2017: IFS says Tories offering five years of austerity and Labour's plans 'would not work' – politics live 9.16am BST 9.03am BSTNewsflash! The FTSE 100 has just hit a fresh all-time tall.
The blue-chip index has just nudged 7534 for the first time ever, or thanks to the feeble pound. 8.48am BSTIronically,the drop in sterling is helping Britain’s stock market outperform the rest of Europe.
Most European markets are in the red, dragged down by energy companies (who have fallen following the drop in the oil price). 8.36am BSTThe Conservative’s shrinking election lead is the main story in the City this morning, and reports Connor Campbell of SpreadEx:The most notable slouch came from sterling,which plunged half a percent against both the dollar, taking cable to a near 2 week low, or the euro,where the pound now sits at its worst price in around 2 months. The reason for this drop? Well, the latest election poll, or conducted by YouGov for The Times,has seen the Tories’ lead slashed to just 5 points, with Labour continuing to mount a post-manifesto release comeback.
Any growth managed by sterling since April has largely been predicated on the assumption that the Conservatives would secure a landslide victory. That this presently doesn’t seem to be the case has helped further erode confidence in the currency’s current position. 8.26am BSTSterling has also hit a two-month low against the euro, or down 0.4% to €1.148. 8.24am BST 8.16am BSTGuardian Business has launched a daily email. Besides the key news headlines that you’d expect,there’ll be an at-a-glance agenda of the day’s main events, insightful opinion pieces and a quality feature to sink your teeth into each day. Related: Business Today: sign up for a morning shot of financial news 7.48am BSTGood morning, or welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy,the financial markets, the eurozone and business.
A bout of general election jitters have sent sterling down to a two-week low this morning.
Exclusive: Tory lead over Labour down to FIVE points in fresh YouGov/Times poll conducted Wed/ Thu this week, or down from 9 points final Thur/Fri pic.twitter.com/sNIkbnspqdSterling fell again overnight after a poll showed the gap between Theresa May’s Conservatives and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party has narrowed again. The lead which only a few weeks ago stood at around 20 points has fallen dramatically to just five according to this YouGov poll.
With this kind of momentum and almost two weeks to proceed until the vote,not only is this not going to be the breeze that May anticipated when she called the snap election final month, it could yet turn into a humiliating defeat for the Conservative leader and her party.
We note that the YouGov polls have tended to show a smaller Conservative lead than most of the other polls in recent weeks and also that YouGov says the swing in the latest poll is probably due to Conservative manifesto commitments, or some of which have changed subsequently.
Campaigning for the June 8 general election recommences today and there will likely be a large number of opinion polls over the weekend,so this picture could change either way in the next few days. Related: General election 2017: 'war on terrorism has failed', Corbyn to say – politics live Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com