(Bloomberg) -- The pound fell after lawmakers voted against a key proposal that sought to rule out the prospect of the U.K. crashing out of the European Union without a deal.
Sterling declined for a second day after members of Parliament rejected the so-called Cooper-Boles proposal that also sought to delay Britain's exit from the bloc. The currency held its losses as lawmakers subsequently approved the Brady amendment that seeks changes to the Irish backstop arrangement in the Brexit deal.
Prime Minister Theresa May had backed the Brady plan herself as a way to demonstrate to Brussels that changes to the backstop would allow the Brexit deal to be approved.
“The positive is that May has found a majority for some sort of Brexit,” said Danske Bank A/S analyst Mikael Olai Milhoj. “The negative is the EU has said no so far.”
The pound fell 0.7 percent to $1.3065, the lowest since January 25. It also weakened versus the euro, down 0.8 percent at 87.52 pence per euro.
To contact the reporter on this story: Charlotte Ryan in London at cryan147@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ven Ram at vram1@bloomberg.net, Anil Varma
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