EUR GBP Bounces After Testing New Yearly Lows

The EUR GBP exchange rate was 0.16% higher on Thursday after the pair tested new yearly lows earlier in the day. In the UK doctors are urging ministers to apply their coronavirus ‘plan B’ measures. The government was also accused of being ‘taking to the cleaners’ on trade deals by Labour.

The EUR to GBP is trading at 0.8435 as the euro seeks to make this a floor in the price.

Doctors urge UK ministers to employ ‘plan B’ options with case rise

It seems like yesterday that the UK finally reopened from its government lockdowns but already doctors are urging ministers to take action over an “unacceptable” level of Covid cases in the country.

The British Medical Association said the government was being “wilfully negligent” for not reimposing virus rules such as mandatory face masks.

Daily infections in the UK have been above 40,000 for more than eight days in a row. However, Health Minister Edward Argar said the NHS is not under “unsustainable pressure” to justify restrictions.

Edgar told BBC Breakfast that there were about 95,000 beds in NHS hospitals, with 7,000 occupied by Covid patients and 6,000 currently empty.

“We know how those numbers can rise swiftly, which is why we’re looking at that day by day, hour by hour. But at the moment we do have the ability to manage,” he said.

The health secretary also sent out a warning that daily cases could rise to 100,000 but is still refusing to impose fresh restrictions for now.

At a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday, Sajid Javid said that “at this point” the government would not bring in its Plan B measures, which include compulsory face coverings and passports for entry to nightclubs and large events.

The euro versus the pound sterling has been under pressure over a potential rate hike in the UK this year but Wednesday’s cooler inflation and rising virus rates have taken the sting out of sterling for now.

Opposition accuses government of being ‘taken to the cleaners’ on trade

The shadow trade secretary Emily Thornberry has accused the government of failing to negotiate trade deals “that deliver for Britain”, telling ministers they are allowing the Asia-Pacific region to “take the UK to the cleaners”.

Ms Thornberry said the newly announced UK-NZ free trade agreement (FTA) failed to deliver benefits at home compared with those secured abroad.

“There is a real problem that this is now the third Asia-Pacific agreement in a row – Japan, Australia and now New Zealand – where more than 80% of the projected growth in trade, by the trade department, has gone to exporters in those other countries, and less than 20% has gone to exports to the UK,” the Labour MP said.

Thornberry also suggested the new deal would allow New Zealand farmers to undercut British farmers by shipping in meat produced to lower welfare standards. “This deal will lead to reductions in growth and jobs in the UK farming sector because, as the scoping paper says, and I quote, ‘New Zealand’s producers may be able to supply UK retailers at lower cost relative to domestic producers,” she added.

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