The one pound is trading at a rate of €1.125

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In comments yesterday the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier killed off the so-called Chequers plan and warned that any attempts by Theresa May to appeal to national heads of state would be a ‘waste of time’. Although this political development has ramped up pound investors’ fears of more Brexit chaos, and could be seen as a blow for Sterling, balance has been maintained with the euro likewise being hit by negative sentiment over the last 24 hours. The main drag on the single currency comes in the form of yesterday’s European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate decision, which saw policymakers keep Eurozone rates at zero per cent. Although it was widely expected that there would be no change in rates, it was the accompanying comments from ECB President Mario Draghi that suppressed the currency.

Mr Draghi, speaking at a press conference after the rate decision, poured cold water on any rate hike speculation, reasserting his commitment that interest rates would remain on hold until at least summer 2019. Whilst maintaining a somewhat dovish outlook, Mr Draghi did however confirm that the ECB’s massive bond-purchasing programme would start to be wound down by the end of the year. He went on to say that the Eurozone economy was ‘solid’ in terms of growth and inflation. He said: “The underlying strength of the economy confirms our confidence that the sustained convergence of inflation to our aim will continue in the period ahead and will be maintained even after a gradual winding down of our net asset purchases.”

Further limiting the appeal of the euro today has been some shaky French GDP figures, which came in below forecasts. Q2 GDP in France was expected to show a 0.3 per cent rate of growth, but the print came in below expectations at 0.2 per cent. Further compounding this, French household consumption figures for June showed an anaemic 0.1 per cent growth, against expectations of a rise of 0.6 per cent. Spanish retail sales figures came in slightly stronger than the French results, showing a 0.4 per cent month-on-month rate of growth in June, although the year-on-year figure stayed at a far less impressive 0.1 per cent rate.

How to get the best exchange rate Sun, July 15, 2018 Exchange rate: How to get the best deal on your holiday money. Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 8 How to get the best exchange rate