Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has cut its outlook for the United Kingdom. The move came on the back of the government’s decision to hold a referendum on whether the nation should stay in the EU or not, DW reported. Standard & Poor’s announced Friday it had lowered the outlook for the UK’s government debt to “negative” from “stable.” S&P had been the only major ratings agency to still grant Britain a top-notch sovereign assessment, but said the country was at increased risk of losing its triple-A credit rating following Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision to hold a referendum on leaving the 28-member European Union. “The UK government’s decision to hold a referendum on EU membership by 2017 indicates that economic policymaking could be at risk of being more exposed to party politics than we had previously anticipated,” Standard & Poor’s said in a statement. “[It’s] similar to the situation in the US when we lowered that credit rating in 2011,” the agency added.
