PM considers call for foreign fans and VIPs to avoid quarantine at Wembley Euro games
A minister has said the government is trying to “accommodate” Euro 2020 “as much as we possibly can” – amid reports thousands of VIPs will be granted quarantine-free access to England for the final.
Both semi-finals and the final of the tournament are set to take place at London’s Wembley stadium next month.
And, according to The Times, around 2,500 senior UEFA and FIFA officials, politicians, sponsors and broadcasters could be exempted from having to self-isolate on arrival to England.
The newspaper said there were concerns within government that the semi-finals and final would be moved to Hungary, which is soon to significantly ease COVID border restrictions, if they did not relax rules for VIPs coming to England for the showpiece football matches.
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Minister on football VIPs not quarantining
Under England’s current border restrictions, only those travelling from 11 “green list” countries are not required to quarantine on their arrival.
These include a number of south Atlantic islands as well as countries – such as Australia and New Zealand – that are currently not allowing international travel.
No countries competing at Euro 2020 – apart from England, Scotland and Wales – are on the travel green list.
Sky News understands ministers are still working through details with UEFA and the Football Association, although no decisions have yet been taken on any possible exemptions for VIPs.
Any move to exempt VIPs from quarantine rules would prompt a public backlash, with many Britons having been left unable to book a foreign holiday this summer due to the limited number of countries on the green list.
There are reportedly concerns showpiece matches could be moved to Hungary – where COVID rules are more relaxed
Asked if it was unfair that some VIPs could enjoy quarantine-free travel to the UK – while many British holidaymakers who return from non-green list countries would have to self-isolate – Home Office minister Kit Malthouse told Sky News: “One of the things we are trying to do… is obviously accommodate the Euros as much as we possibly can.
“While much of, I guess, the concern around coronavirus regulations has been about whether one situation is fair compared to another situation, what we’re generally trying to do is make difficult decisions about the path of the virus at the same time as trying to enable the ordinary operation of very special events like the Euros.
“No doubt the health professionals and the immigration professionals at the Home Office and then the senior ministers who make the decision will take all of that into account as we proceed.
“It’s a great competition, we’re very lucky to have it, we’re trying to make it happen with as much kind of satisfaction all round as we possibly can and that will be taken into account in the decision over the next few days.”
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Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the proposal of special access for VIP visitors for Euro 2020 “does not sound fair at all”.
“It’s part of the way this Conservative government operates – there’s one rule for their friends and another rule for the rest of us,” he told Sky News.
“We saw that with Dominic Cummings during the pandemic who broke all the rules and didn’t pay the price.
“So often with this Conservative government, if you’re friendly with them you get special favours – that is not the way to do politics.”
This year’s Champions League final – between English clubs Chelsea and Manchester City – was held in Portugal and not at Wembley, as had been floated, after UEFA and the UK government failed to reach agreement on quarantine exemptions.
Despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson having delayed the final easing of lockdown rules, which had been due on 21 June, the semi-finals and final of Euro 2020 at Wembley will have crowds of up to 45,000.
Politics
Starmer needs to publicly say Trump is wrong and give more reassurance over tariffs, Harriet Harman urges
Sir Keir Starmer needs to reassure the public more over tariffs – and tell them Donald Trump is wrong, Harriet Harman has said.
Speaking to Beth Rigby on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the Labour peer said ministers were avoiding the “elephant in the room, which is that Trump is wrong on this, we don’t agree with him”.
The US president placed 10% tariffs on all UK goods exported to the US, and while other countries were much worse hit, the FTSE 100 fell by about 1,000 after Mr Trump’s “liberation day” announcement last week.
It then kicked off its best day in five years on Thursday after Mr Trump decided to defer the worst of his tariffs for 90 days. Financial markets around the world reacted similarly.
Baroness Harman said there was no need for “gratuitous insults” but that the prime minister needed to “own the narrative” because there is “a danger” if the leader of the country is not saying what is actually happening.
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PM reacts to tariffs at liaison committee
A minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, Baroness Harman said that when the US put steel tariffs on imported steel in 2002, Mr Blair “did say ‘this is unacceptable, this is wrong, it’s unjustified, it is breaching the World Trade Organisation rules'”.
“He was able to say ‘we do not believe this is how you should be within the world organisation and Bush has got it wrong’,” she added
“I think it feels as if there’s a kind of restricted vocabulary amongst ministers at the moment where they are speaking in code.”
The Labour peer said she also thought Sir Keir should be “being more positive and giving reassurance”.
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Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump at the White House in February. Pic: AP
She acknowledged there was “a lot of criticism” in the first six months of Labour’s tenure and the government “didn’t help the economy by rather talking it down”.
There is a danger of being “too pessimistic”, she said, and Sir Keir needs to be “realistic”.
“But I think that giving people reassurances – we’re not going to panic, we’re not going to make mistakes by knee-jerk retaliation,” she said.
“I think the story needs to be told to the country that this is a really difficult problem and Trump has caused it and he is wrong to do this, but we will be okay with this government.
“And I think he’s entitled to say that, and I think people will want to hear that.”
Crypto-critical US Senator Elizabeth Warren has led six Senate Democrats in urging the Department of Justice to reverse its decision to terminate its crypto investigations and prosecutions division.
In an April 10 letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Senators said the decision to disband the department’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team was a “grave mistake” that would support “sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, scams, and child sexual exploitation.”
Senators Richard Durbin, Mazie Hirono, Sheldon Whitehouse, Christopher Coons and Richard Blumenthal signed the letter in addition to Warren.
On April 7, Blanche shuttered the DOJ’s crypto enforcement team, saying in a memo that “The Department of Justice is not a digital assets regulator.”
The senators claim that the decision gave a “free pass to cryptocurrency money launderers” and claimed that crypto mixing services — used to obfuscate blockchain transactions — are “go-to tools for cybercriminals.”
“It makes no sense for DOJ to announce a hands-off approach to tools that are being used to support such terrible crimes,” the letter said.
An excerpt of Democrat’s letter to the DOJ. Source: US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
The senators also questioned why the Justice Department had decided not to prosecute a “host of crimes involving digital assets, including violations of the Bank Secrecy Act.”
They claimed that this creates a “systemic vulnerability in the digital assets sector,” which “drug traffickers, terrorists, fraudsters, and adversaries” will exploit on a large scale.
The lawmakers requested a staff-level briefing no later than May 1, providing “detailed information on the rationale behind these decisions.”
Targeting Trump family crypto endeavors
The letter also took a swipe at the Trump family’s crypto projects, suggesting potential conflicts of interest.
Related: SafeMoon boss cites DOJ’s nixed crypto unit in latest bid to toss suit
A press release accompanying the letter stated that the senators are raising concerns about the “potential connections” between the DOJ’s actions and the crypto ventures of President Donald Trump and his family.
The Trumps have an interest in and have backed the crypto platform World Liberty Financial along with its token. The platform is also planning to launch a stablecoin while President Trump’s sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., are working to launch a crypto-mining company called American Bitcoin.
“Your decisions give rise to concerns that President Trump’s interest in selling his cryptocurrency may be the reason for easing law enforcement scrutiny,” the Democrats stated.
In a memo announcing the crypto enforcement team’s disbandment, Blanche accused the Biden administration of using the Justice Department to “pursue a reckless strategy of regulation by prosecution.”
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New York Attorney General Letitia James has sent a letter to US congressional leaders urging “common sense” federal crypto regulations and to keep digital assets out of US pensions.
“I am urging Congress to pass legislation that would strengthen federal regulations on the cryptocurrency industry to protect investors, strengthen financial markets, and stop fraud,” James said in a 14-page letter shared on April 10, outlining six major risks if the sector remains unregulated.
She said that without appropriate safeguards, the “unchecked proliferation of digital assets” undermines US dollar dominance, weakens national security due to criminal activity, and “undermines the stability of financial markets.”
Unregulated crypto also subjects investors to “price manipulation and rigged markets,” facilitates fraud that “drains billions of dollars from hardworking Americans, and extracts assets and investments from the American economy,” she said.
An excerpt of James’ letter to Congress. Source: Office of the New York State Attorney General
James made a number of recommendations and pushed Congress for legislation that would require stablecoin issuers to have a US presence and regulatory oversight and mandate backing stablecoins with US dollars or treasuries.
She also wants regulations that require platforms to work only with anti-money laundering-compliant entities, establish registration requirements for issuers and intermediaries, protect against conflicts of interest and promote price transparency and require fraud prevention measures.
No crypto assets in pension funds
The New York’s top lawyer also aired her concerns about including crypto in pension funds.
“Digital assets are uniquely unsuitable for retirement savings due to their high volatility,” she said, claiming that they have no value.
“The underlying value of cryptocurrency is unpredictable and not determined by true price discovery because they have no intrinsic value on which their prices are based.”
James also urged against retirement funds investing in crypto-tracking exchange-traded funds, stating that “unlike traditional exchange-traded funds backed by stocks and bonds, cryptocurrency held to back cryptocurrency ETFs are at risk of permanent theft.”
Related: US lawmaker will reintroduce crypto retirement bill to help Trump agenda
“As Congress takes the mantle to propose legislation governing the cryptocurrency industry, we hope it also takes action to mitigate the risks posed by the industry to America’s national security, financial stability, and citizens,” James said.
The call for regulation follows the US Department of Justice’s reported dismantling of its federal criminal cryptocurrency fraud enforcement division.
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