Tag Archives: Outcomes

Europe: The Final Countdown

On Thursday 23rd June, the British electorate will hold arguably the most important vote in a generation, with the result of the UK referendum on EU membership due to be announced on Friday.

The latest opinion polls have the remain camp slightly ahead and bookmakers attribute a 75% probability of the UK voting to stay in the EU. But caution is warranted as opinion polls have swung back and forth in recent weeks. Turnout, and therefore the weather, may be a critical factor with a high turnout likely to favour the leave vote.

I am nevertheless sticking to my long-held view that the British electorate will vote for continuity and for the UK remain in the EU.

The popular assumption is that after the referendum UK markets and global risk appetite will move in clear directions. This belief is likely to be tested, particularly if the British electorate votes in favour of brexit as the government is not legally bound to the referendum result.

Specifically, the consensus expectation – which I share to a degree – is that if the UK votes to remain in the EU, sterling, UK equities and to an extent the euro and global equities will rally sharply. But this rally could start to fade after a few days, with “business-as-usual” resuming.

Conversely, the over-riding view is that sterling and global risk appetite will weaken, potentially very sharply, in the days following a vote for the UK to leave the EU.

Importantly I see six potential sources of uncertainty and a number of possible scenarios (see Figure 6), particularly if the leave camp wins by only a very narrow margin and/or turnout is low.  Market volatility could thus persist for weeks and potentially months, keeping sterling and UK equities on the back foot:

  1. Prime Minister Cameron’s future;
  2. The risk of the British government ignoring the referendum result;
  3. The risk of the British parliament ignoring the referendum vote, the government re-negotiating a deal on the UK’s membership to the EU and holding another referendum;
  4. The risk of a second Scottish independence referendum;
  5. The risk of a protracted UK exit from the EU leaving the door open to a decision reversal; and
  6. The re-negotiation of new trade treaties.

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