Advertisement

  1. National

George Osborne: 'Britain is ready to confront what the future holds'

George Osborne has been seeking to reassure financial markets this morning following Britain's decision to leave the EU.

In a speech at The Treasury, the Chancellor said Britain is "ready to confront what the future holds for us from a position of strength" in his first public reaction to Brexit.

He also told journalists that any decision on an emergency budget would need to be taken by David Cameron's successor.

The UK's credit rating outlook was downgraded from "stable" to "negative" on Saturday in the wake of the referendum.

View all 37 updates ›

FTSE 100 down as bank shares plunge

The FTSE-100 index was down 60.01 points to 6078.68 at 9.15am, as RBS, Barclays and Lloyds suffered falls in their share value.

ITV News Business Editor Joel Hills has the latest:

The FTSE 100 top fallers as at 10.20am Credit: FTSE

Joe Trundle, Head of Trading at ETX Capital, said: "Banks are being hammered as a result of Britain’s decision to leave the EU. Aside from the general investor uncertainty, there are some important reasons why financial stocks are so exposed.

"First, there is a realisation that interest rates will remain low for longer – gilts have sunk below 1% for their first time ever today. This is not confined to the UK - Australia’s central bank may have to cut rates because of the vote.

"Second, property assets will have to be revalued and that could severely dent banks’ loan books.

"Thirdly, British banks probably won’t have access to EU markets post-Brexit as they’ll lose their 'passporting' privileges.

  1. Read more
  2. 37 updates
George Osborne: 'Britain is ready to confront what the future holds'

More on this story