Pound to US dollar exchange rate: Sterling slides as David Davis insists Brexit will not spark 'Mad Max-style' dystopia for UK market

The pound slipped against the US Dollar as David Davis denied Brexit would spark a “Mad Max-style” dystopia.

Sterling lost more than a cent against the dollar dropping to $1.3992 from a high of $1.4099 as markets closed on Monday.

The pound was slightly up on the Euro as the Brexit Secretary delivered his speech to EU leaders in Vienna.

It increased to €1.1338 after closing at €1.2338 on Monday.

Mr Davis said he wanted trade between the UK and EU to remain as “frictionless as possible" when Britain quits the bloc in March 2019.

He insisted the Government will continue its track record of high standards outside the EU and had no intention of engaging in a new "race to the bottom".

"I know that for one reason or another there are some people who have sought to question that these really are our intentions," he told EU leaders.

"They fear that Brexit could lead to an Anglo-Saxon race to the bottom, with Britain plunged into a Mad Max-style world borrowed from dystopian fiction.

"These fears about a race to the bottom are based on nothing - not history, not intention, nor interest."

Mr Davis noted Theresa May's commitment to maintaining and enhancing workers' rights, Chancellor Philip Hammond's support for a stable European banking system and Environment Secretary Michael Gove's "crusading zeal" on animal welfare as examples of the UK determination to lead a "race to the top".

His intervention comes amid growing calls from EU leaders for Britain to spell out exactly what kind of agreement it is seeking with Brussels.

Mr Davis said it is in the interests of both sides to be able to continue to trust each other's regulations and the institutions that enforce them after Brexit.

"Such mutual recognition will naturally require close, even-handed co-operation between these authorities and a common set of principles to guide them," he said.

"This will be a crucial part of ensuring our future economic partnership is as open and trade remains as frictionless as possible.

"I am certain that is in the interests of both sides and, because of that, I am certain that we can get this right."

Mr Davis said that when one side or the other wishes to change its regulations, it will be essential to ensure it does not lead to the creation of "unnecessary barriers" to trade.

"Take a car produced here in Austria to be exported to the UK. Currently, that vehicle only has to undergo one series of approvals, in one country, to show that it meets the required regulatory standards and those approvals are accepted across the European Union," he added.

"That's exactly the sort of arrangement we want to see maintained even after we leave the European Union."

Additional reporting by Press Association.