The Bank of England (BOE) held interest rates steady on Thursday, with the U.K.'s economic outlook highly uncertain less than 100 days before the country leaves the European Union.
As widely expected the BOE's nine-member Monetary Policy Committee, led by Mark Carney, unanimously voted to leave interest rates unchanged at 0.75 percent.
Sterling was trading up around 0.6 percent at $1.2681 on the news.
The previous change in interest rates came in August earlier this year, when the Bank raised rates by a quarter of a percentage point to their highest level since March 2009.
Expectations of a BOE rate hike at its final meeting of the calendar year were low, largely because of heightened political uncertainty in the U.K.
With 99 days to go until Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, deep divisions in parliament have raised the chances of the world's fifth-largest economy abruptly leaving the bloc without a deal.
The heightened risk of a disorderly Brexit has also increased calls for a second referendum to break the deadlock.
Earlier this month, embattled Prime Minister Theresa May pulled a vote on her Brexit deal after admitting lawmakers would most likely vote against it.
May is now seeking "assurances" from EU leaders over the nature of the so-called Irish backstop post-Brexit.
The backstop plan is essentially a legally-binding insurance policy to ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland whatever the outcome of future trade talks between the U.K. and the EU.
Critics of the current deal say Britain could end up being trapping the country in a customs union with the EU indefinitely.
However, May has repeatedly insisted if her deal is rejected then the U.K. could be forced to leave with no-deal — an option big business leaders dread — or the whole Brexit process could be reversed altogether.
The prime minister has rescheduled a vote on her Brexit deal for the third week of January.
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