Britons woke up this morning to their cup of tea and news that the pound had dropped to its lowest level since 2017 in response to the latest Brexit drama.

Some, back from their holidays on the Continent, will have already felt how things have gotten worse — their money translating into fewer euros, fewer beers in the sunny resorts of southern Europe. The pain is real.

There is no relief in sight. More than three years on from the 2016 referendum on EU membership. British politics have become a toxic daily brew with instability the new normal and another election potentially in the offing.

Against this backdrop, Parliament returns today with battle lines drawn between Prime Minister Boris Johnson, determined to keep open the option of leaving the EU without a deal on October 31, and opponents across all parties equally bent on stopping him committing what they regard as economic suicide for the UK It’s hard to gauge at this point who will win out.

The showdown has some commentators evoking the English civil war almost 400 years ago, which cost a king his head in the struggle between the executive and the legislature. The outcome could be anything from a Brexit delay to a snap general election. Once a byword for political stability, where the UK goes from here is anyone’s guess.

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