Pound rises as UK-EU strike deal over Withdrawal Agreement
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Tuesday 08 Dec 2020
(Sharecast News) - The pound strengthened on Tuesday after the UK agreed with the European Union to drop controversial clauses from the Internal Market Bill.
The co-chairs of the EU-UK Joint Committee, Michael Gove and Maros Sefcovic, met on Monday to discuss outstanding issues relating to the implementation of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, and on Tuesday confirmed the talks had been successful.
In a joint statement, Gove and Sefcovic said agreement had been reached in principle on all issues, with particular regard to the protocol on Northern Ireland and Ireland. "The protocol protects the Good Friday Agreement in all its dimensions, maintaining peace, stability and prosperity on the island of Ireland," the statement said.
The UK will now withdraw clauses 44, 45 and 47 of the UK Internal Market Bill, which the UK government had admitted broke international law in a "specific and limited way", and will not introduce any similar provisions in the Taxation Bill. The UK has previously said it would withdraw the clauses only in the context of a trade deal.
The pound jumped against both the euro and the dollar following the statement, and by 1430 GMT was trading at €1.10 and $1.33. Earlier sterling had been down as much as 0.4% against both currencies.
Cabinet Office minister Gove tweeted that he was "delighted" and that he would update Parliament on Wednesday. Sefcovic tweeted that the Withdrawal Agreement would now be fully operational as of 1 January.
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