The pound may look vulnerable, but the UK is not alone Sterling is set for a white-knuckle ride in the run-up to the general election, as the fiscal face-off between the Conservatives and Labour keeps the UK’s hefty deficit in the headlines, and investors fret about the consequences of a hung parliament. News on Friday that GDP expanded more rapidly than first thought at the end of last year – by 0.3% in the final quarter, instead of the 0.1% early estimate – failed to lift the embattled pound, which at one point hit its lowest level for nine months against the dollar