GBP/USD touches a high of 1.2585 as 158 Tory lawmakers have pledged public support for May ahead of the vote later
The pound is rising to its best levels on the day as there is growing confidence now that May will be able to win the confidence vote later today. As mentioned earlier, the magic number here is 158 votes as there are 315 Tory lawmakers and BBC reports that the public backing has reached that figure at the moment.
That is giving renewed life for the pound as it would mean that May won't be challenged for the next 12 months if the outcome turns out as what the public support shows. This will also give her much of the upper hand against lawmakers in parliament who has so far opposed her deal, and that's much needed leverage considering how her Brexit deal has hit a bit of a snag at the moment.
However, a word of caution ahead of the vote later; the voting will be done via a secret ballot, which means that all votes are anonymous. Hence, even if lawmakers have publicly voiced their support for May, they could very well vote against her later on. After all, we are dealing with politicians. So, just be mindful of that in any case.
