The pound is back under heavy pressure after the UK set a deadline for starting the process of the exiting the EU, taking it to a three-year low against the euro.

Theresa May, prime minister, told the Conservative party conference over the weekend that Britain would trigger Article 50, the official legal notification that would formally commence negotiations with the remaining EU powers, “no later than the end of March”. That sets the UK up to leave the EU by 2019.

The pound is 0.9 per cent weaker against the euro, with as many as £0.8742 needed to buy a unit of the single currency, a level not touched since 2013.

Against the dollar, sterling is down 0.8 per cent at $1.2880, the lowest level since August 15.

Kit Juckes at Société Générale said the date brought “a bit of clarity, but not much joy” for the pound.

Read more at The Financial Times.