Burnham Faces a Dilemma Over Markets and Brexit

With tedious reliability the UK political scene keeps on confirming the worst fears of the bond markets. This time it’s a by-election, now set for June 18, which means four weeks of uncertainty and political chicanery before we know if Andy Burnham can even make it back to Parliament to run for the top job. If he does, there will most likely be a Labour leadership contest which would be expected to go until September.

Were investors not busy being paid more to hold UK gilts, the bond markets would be entitled to put their OOO on and head to the beach. As it is they are intensely interested in what happens next. As The Readout hits your inboxes this evening Bloomberg’s Alex Wickham reports that Burnham has ruled out changing the UK’s fiscal rules on borrowing if we wins power.