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Yesterday saw the House of Lords reject the government’s Brexit bill, paving way for greater uncertainty and potential delays in enacting article 50. The subsequent fall in sterling points towards the fact markets do not appreciate the greater degree of ambiguity generated from this decision. The question now is whether this will truly form a roadblock and what the next steps will be in this process which will have significant implications for the pound.
Firstly, the approval process is best shown in the image below (courtesy of the BBC), with the current stage summed up in the bottom left section of the flow. Ultimately we remain within a potential stalemate between the decision of the Houses of Commons (to keep the bill unchanged) and the House of Lords (which wants an amendment to provide certainty for EU citizens living in the UK).