Pound sterling drops below euro at airports after UK election results

£100 gets you just €96.14 if exchanging money at the airport today

Changing money for your holiday today? If you do it at the airport, £1 will get you less than €1.

As the pound plummets in the wake of the General Election results, currency exchange rates at airport bureaux de change have fallen below parity with the euro.

The Independent has been sent photos of this morning’s rates at the Gatwick South Terminal Moneycorp branch, selling euros at an exchange rate of 0.9848.

Rates have plummeted against most currencies this morning (The Independent)

This means that £100 changed at the airport today is worth a pitiful €98.48. To get €100, you’ll be charged £101.54. At €5, a coffee and croissant on Ryanair on the way out will now cost you £5.07. And a McDonald’s coffee in Switzerland is now nudging £4.

Rates at Moneycorp Stansted were even wore this morning, with £1 worth just €0.96. This means spending £100 to get €100 - and that's before the £4.99 commission charge for transactions between £15 and £300.

The pound has plummeted against the euro this morning (Katherine Wheatley)

Rates against the US dollar are equally ignominious - £100 will net travellers just $110.24 at Moneycorp’s Gatwick prices, and a shocking $107.62 at Stansted. Rates with other currencies are also dire – not least because many other currencies, including those of the UAE, China and much of Latin America, are linked to the dollar.

At Moneycorp’s Gatwick rates, today, £100 will get you 136.62 Canadian dollars, 362 UAE dirham, or 1566 Argentine pesos (last week, while The Independent’s travel team was in Argentina, the going rate was around 2000 pesos for £100).

Of course, airport currency rates are notoriously low. The Post Office is offering online rates of 1.08 for euros against sterling today, rising to 1.10 for amounts above £1000. It has the US dollar at 1.2172 against the pound.

This isn’t the first time sterling has slipped below parity with the euro at airport rates. In January, The Independent noted an even worse rate at Moneycorp Gatwick, of 97.4 euro cents for every pound.

Today's rates mean a regular cappuccino at McDonalds in Switzerland will set you back £3.95 (at current rates against the Swiss franc) while a Big Mac is £5.24.