Twelve months on from the UK Referendum vote and we are back at the centre of another political maelstrom. The Brexit affect has of course been sat firmly on the dashboard since June 2016, whether driving a political agenda, a business plan or a household budget. But who would have thought even a month ago that we would find ourselves with a hung parliament with Jeremy Corbyn centre stage.
The Remainers amongst us may very well have said that Theresa May’s ‘Snap Election’ was the obvious opportunity to grab a lifeline back to Europe, but, for sure, many voters want change from ‘austerity politics’. A renewed political energy in the nation’s youth, the demographic feeling the greatest burden for the future, has led to the “precarious political position” (quote BBC’s Political Editor, John Pienar) we find ourselves in on Friday June 9th 2017.
Theresa May has returned from Buckingham Palace lunch time today and held the necessary press conference in Downing Street and rallied for ‘Certainty’ as we approach the start date of the Brexit negotiations, with the DUP at her shoulder. And one thing is very certain: there is probably more uncertainty now than in any time in the UK political history post WWII.
So where does that leave us, seeking safe havens; shoring up against the storm to come? Parallels in terms of financial markets and currency dynamics can be drawn to the period immediately following last year’s Referendum vote. Sterling fell, FTSE shares in multinational corporations with international currency-based reporting saw shares rise in value as a result and investors sought safe havens with gold and wine seeing extraordinary growth in the following six months.
In fine wine, 2016 saw over 25% growth, 16% of that was post the Brexit vote. The market saw an unprecedented 16 months consecutive rise from December 2015 to April 2017. There is heightened demand for tangible assets which protect wealth in times of economic uncertainty and inflation and we can expect to see that demand hit the fine wine market anew.
