Rarely do the currency markets get so engrossed by legal argument – but yesterday every clause sent anxious ripples across trading desks. Article by David Lamb, Head of dealing – FEXCO Corporate Payments.

While the markets had correctly predicted government’s defeat in the Supreme Court, many were taken unawares by the scale of the mountain that Theresa May must now climb – and by the size of the Scottish spanner being placed in the works. Though the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the Scottish government’s attempt to be formally consulted on the triggering of article 50, the Scottish National Party has set itself on a collision course with the Westminster government over Brexit.

With the Labour Party calling for amendments and the Lib Dems pledging to vote against article 50, it’s clear that the government faces a rocky road ahead. Piloting such a controversial piece of legislation through parliament was always going to be tricky – but in the face of such determined resistance from the opposition benches, it will be a Herculean task.

As a result sterling is enduring another week of yo-yoing fortunes. The confirmation of the markets’ predictions brought only fleeting relief before uncertainty over the future course of article 50 returned with a vengeance. The gains made by the Pound on Monday were quickly eroded as sterling returned to its familiar pattern of ‘two steps forward, three steps back’.”