London (AFP)

The pound fell sharply against the major currencies on Tuesday, having already suffered on Monday and while trade talks between the UK and the European Union on a post-Brexit trade deal stalled.

At around 11:10 GMT (1:10 p.m. in Paris), the pound lost 0.88% against the greenback at 1.3050 dollars, a few minutes after falling to 1.3022, a level more seen for almost a month.

Against the euro, it fell 0.72% to 90.41 pence per euro.

The day before, it had already lost 0.85% and 0.68% against the two currencies.

"It seems that Brexit is going out of hand as the head of legal services for the UK government has resigned over disagreements with Boris Johnson," said Sebastien Clements, analyst for OFX, citing information from the Financial Times.

According to the daily, Jonathan Jones made the decision to leave because of the government's desire to revise the part of the Brexit deal dedicated to Ireland and concluded last year.

This text that Boris Johnson wishes to revise aims to guarantee the absence of a physical border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, a member of the EU, and to avoid the resurgence of tensions in this region, bloodied by three decades from "Troubles" until the signing of the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998.

The possibility of modifying this text made Europeans and their chief negotiator Michel Barnier jump, for whom "everything that has been signed in the past must be respected".

- Until October 15 -

The dialogue between the two parties has also become strained in recent days, putting pressure on the British currency, whose price follows the evolution of forecasts on the chances of a trade agreement.

Hours before Michel Barnier arrived in London for talks set to start at 12:30 GMT and continue until Thursday, British negotiator David Frost called on the EU to "be more realistic about the status of independent country "from the United Kingdom.

"We can not afford to go over the same things again" after "six months of dialogue" he said in a statement.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his part warned that for lack of compromise by the European summit on October 15, he would be satisfied with a "no deal" despite the risks of economic damage in a period of historic crisis due to the pandemic novel coronavirus.

According to him, the United Kingdom has to gain by forging bilateral trade agreements and reviewing some of its legislation to its advantage without directives from Brussels.

A no-deal Brexit would mean that trade transactions between the UK and the EU would be governed by WTO rules after the transition period that ends at the end of December.

This would mean tariffs on many products, potentially very costly for many sectors, as worried by many sector representatives and the business community.

"Operators probably continue to be very sensitive to anything that could jeopardize a deal and leave the UK facing a global pandemic, high unemployment and lack of (access to) the single market at the same time," explained Craig Erlam, analyst for Oanda.

© 2020 AFP