The British pound has been trading lower for the past two days, but the losses were snapped on Thursday as Brits wait for an election manifesto from the opposition Labour Party. The Conservatives, under the leadership of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, still seem to hold the majority in recent opinion polls, but Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is hoping that his highly anticipated manifesto will close the gap between the parties. The manifesto has been dubbed “radical and ambitious” and is expected to garner a lot of attention across the UK. The Conservative Party manifesto may be released as late as two weeks before the election. For the meanwhile, the Conservative Party is expected to release specific policy decisions individually before the full manifesto is released.
During the upcoming British election on December 12, voters will have to choose between Corbyn’s radical socialist ideals or Johnson’s plans for a Brexit with a dynamic market economy. Both parties have committed to ending economic austerity and to increasing public spending.
As of 10:54 a.m. GMT, the Pound sterling advanced 0.19 percent against the U.S. dollar, to trade at $1.2946. It was up a modest 0.03 percent only a few hours ago and has since gathered momentum. The currency has strengthened over 8 percent since September but has recently slowed thanks to election uncertainty and the possibility that the Labour manifesto will strengthen the party’s position. As long as the Conservative Party maintains its strong margin towards victory, the pound is expected to remain supported.
Meanwhile, the euro has also weakened against the pound, trading down 0.06 percent, to 0.8562. Though analysts predict that some strengthening of the euro could be possible, it’s more than likely that the pound will continue to strengthen in the long term.
Other currency pairs have been spared the strong movements of the pound. The USD/JPY pair was unchanged, and the euro gained only 0.01 percent against the dollar in London’s morning hours, trading at $1.1082. The greenback was also unchanged against the Canadian dollar, trading at $1.3303.