Following Boris Johnson’s controversial decision to prorogue parliament next month, the Betfair Exchange reports that the odds of a ‘no-deal Brexit’ are being traded at their lowest prices this year.
Odds of a no-deal scenario have now been priced at 5/4 according to Betfair, marking a drop from the 5/2 earlier this month, and 9/1 earlier this year.
Updating the market, Betfair Spokesperson Katie Baylis commented: “Following the Government’s announcement of its plan to suspend parliament, giving MPs basically no time to stop a No-Deal Brexit, the odds of a no-deal have tumbled this morning on Betfair Exchange to 5/4 or a 44% chance of occurring in 2019.
“Earlier this year a No-Deal Brexit was at odds of 9/1 or just a 10% chance of happening, but we’ve seen the odds shorten week by week, especially after Boris Johnson took over as Prime Minister and in the last few weeks as it’s become clear that he is ready to take the UK out of the EU by the 31st of October, come what may.
“It’s now odds-on at 5/6 or a 54% chance that the UK will leave the EU by the end of October deadline, with those odds shortening similarly over the last few months, and they could go even lower over the next 24 hours as we watch with interest another unprecedented turn of events at Westminster.”
The decision to suspend the current parliamentary session has been one of great controversy, with a petition to prevent BoJo from proroguing parliament already hitting over 1.2 million signatures in under 24 hours.
Ladbrokes have made it odds-on that a general election will take place in 2019, with prices as low as 1/ 2 while the UK to leave the EU with no Brexit Deal before November 1 is priced at 8/11.
The news comes as Scottish Conservative party leader Ruth Davidson is reportedly on the verge of quitting the party which the BBC has attributed to Johnson’s pursuit of a no-deal Brexit, however an official statement is yet to be made.