(Bloomberg) -- Today in Brexit: May is trying to give her deal one last push, as her party moves on to who comes next.

What’s Happening?

Theresa May is giving her much-loathed Brexit deal one last polish to see if she can get it through Parliament before standing down. But her party, taking defeat for granted, is already hurtling into a leadership race that’s unnerving business and investors.

The pound fell 2% last week as investors braced for the possibility that a hardline Brexiteer will take over from May and try to lead the U.K. out of the European Union without a deal. Markets might end up missing the relative calm of the Theresa May years.

The prospect of a no-deal split also terrifies a big chunk of the Tory party, and a group led by Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd launches a campaign today to try to block Boris Johnson from becoming leader if he backs no deal.

But Johnson knows the job is there for the taking, he is the bookmakers’ favorite and leads the polls of possible candidates. The next few weeks could see a leadership campaign in which Tory candidates’ every utterance on Brexit will move the pound and force companies to make hard decisions. The risk of a no-deal Brexit is back, and Parliament’s opposition probably isn’t a guarantee it won’t happen.

That’s the view of Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, who said a messy exit could still happen by accident and companies continue to prepare for it — in some cases at great cost. In an indictment of the state of U.K. politics and the party that used to be the party of business, Marshall says companies are fed up with the whole political class.

“There are concerns about lots of individuals and lots of political parties right now,” Marshall said in an interview. Politicians are “chasing rainbows,” he said, while business is left to pick up the tab.

Today’s Must-Reads

  • Nigel Farage is winning the cyber war. Joe Mayes looks at why his EU election campaign is so effective, and the numbers behind it.
  • What will Theresa May’s economic legacy be? Bloomberg takes a look at the lost output, inequality and poor productivity.
  • Boris Johnson as prime minister would further the cause of Scottish independence, Clare Foges writes in the Times.

Brexit in Brief

Corbyn’s Small Step | Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn appeared to take a step closer to full support for a second referendum, saying it’s “reasonable” to have a public vote on any Brexit deal that’s made. Until now he has said another plebiscite would be justified to stop a damaging Tory Brexit or a no-deal scenario. But after his comments to the BBC, his team signaled that it wasn’t a shift and was in line with party policy. 

Time to Build | London office developers have stopped waiting for Brexit to be over, Jack Sidders reports. Developers mostly steered clear of doing new projects on spec after the 2016 referendum, but the resilience of London’s office market has persuaded them that it’s time to get building again.

But House Prices Keep Falling | The residential market is a different story. Asking prices have fallen in all but two of London’s 32 boroughs, Rightmove said. The only the two boroughs with higher asking prices from new sellers than a year ago were the two cheapest last month, Rightmove said.

Another Tory Candidate | Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay refused to rule himself out of the leadership race when asked on Sky’s Sophy Ridge show. And he took a swipe at his campaigning colleagues: “I have so much to do I don’t need to be posing in kitchens.”

Fox in the City | Trade Secretary Liam Fox will tell the City of London today that the government values the finance sector and has confidence in its ability to emerge stronger from Brexit. “I am convinced that once the dust settles, the City of London will do what it always does, which is to emerge fitter, stronger and more dynamic than ever,” he’s expected to tell the International Financial Services Forum in London. “We recognize your difficulties. We recognize your importance.”

On the Markets | The pound could soon be back at $1.20, says Societe Generale, as investors prepare for more turmoil. It traded at $1.2736 early this morning.

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To contact the author of this story: Emma Ross-Thomas in London at erossthomas@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Adam Blenford at ablenford@bloomberg.net, Lisa Fleisher

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