PM refuses to apologise for remark about Thatcher closing coal mines as backlash grows

Published

4 years ago

August 6, 2021

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Boris Johnson has refused to apologise after he said Margaret Thatcher gave the UK a “big early start” in its battle against climate change when she closed coal mines in the 1980s.

The PM’s official spokesperson told reporters Mr Johnson recognises the “huge impact and pain” caused by the closure of coal mines – but did not confirm whether he would say sorry for the remark.

But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for the PM to apologise “immediately” and accused the Conservative government of not caring about “communities still suffering from the devastating effects of Margaret Thatcher’s callous actions”.

The prime minister made the comment during a visit to Scotland on Thursday, when he was asked if he would set a deadline for ending fossil fuel extraction.

“Look at what we’ve done already. We’ve transitioned away from coal in my lifetime,” he said.

“Thanks to Margaret Thatcher, who closed so many coal mines across the country, we had a big early start and we’re now moving rapidly away from coal altogether.”

According to the Daily Record, the prime minister laughed when he made the reference to Mrs Thatcher, whose time in Downing Street (1979-90) featured the miners’ strike of 1984-5.

Mr Johnson is reported to have added: “I thought that would get you going.”

Pressed on the matter on Friday, the PM’s official spokesperson said: “The prime minister recognises the huge impact and pain closing coal mines had in communities across the UK.

“This government has an ambitious plan to tackle the critical issue of climate change, which includes reducing reliance on coal and other non-renewable energy sources.

“During the visit the prime minister pointed to the huge progress already made in the UK transitioning away from coal and towards cleaner forms of energy, and our commitment to supporting people and industries on that transition.”

Asked if the PM plans to apologise for his remark, the spokesman added: “You’ve got my words there, the prime minister recognises the huge impact and pain closing coal mines had in communities across the UK.”

The prime minister’s Thatcher comment drew quick condemnation from opposition parties and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

“The prime minister has shown his true colours yet again,” Sir Keir said on Friday.

“For Boris Johnson to laugh when talking about the closure of the coal mines is a slap in the face for communities still suffering from the devastating effects of Margaret Thatcher’s callous actions.

“I’m proud to have always stood with our coalfield communities. I represented the miners in court as the Tories tried to close the pits. These communities contributed so much to the success of our country, and then were abandoned.

“The Tories didn’t care then, and they don’t care now.

“For Boris Johnson to treat the pain and suffering caused to our coalfield communities as a punchline shows just how out of touch with working people he is.

“The prime minister must apologise immediately.”

In a tweet on Thursday, Ms Sturgeon said: “Lives and communities in Scotland were utterly devastated by Thatcher’s destruction of the coal industry (which had zero to do with any concern she had for the planet).

“To treat that as something to laugh about is crass & deeply insensitive to that reality.”

And Scottish Greens Central Scotland MSP Gillian Mackay added: “Thatcher’s decimation of the coal industry had absolutely nothing to do with environmentalism and everything to do with her despicable anti-trade union ideology.”

But Conservative MPs have defended the PM’s remarks.

One Conservative MP in a ‘red wall’ seat told Sky News they believed the issue had been “massively overblown”, adding the only email they had received from a constituent in relation to the matter was supportive of the prime minister.

And Brendan Clarke-Smith, MP for Bassetlaw – a former mining town – said the comment was made “in jest” but admitted he would not have said it himself.

“The comment has clearly been made in jest and was said in the context of the move away from fossil fuels to renewable and clean forms of energy,” Mr Clarke-Smith told Sky News.

He added: “That said, I wouldn’t have made the joke myself and I think we all know that when an industry closes down in a community it can have a hugely detrimental effect on the local economy, which can take a generation to solve. I have seen this with my own eyes.

“If we were talking about speeding up closures, then I would have actually used Labour’s Harold Wilson as an example, who closed 290 pits, as opposed to the 160 under Margaret Thatcher. Tony Blair also continued the trend towards closures.

“I do find it remarkable that the same people criticise the prime minister for his comments about pit closures, but then stand up in parliament expecting everybody to cut out fossil fuels immediately and drive electric cars. They can’t have it both ways.”

Mr Clarke-Smith continued: “We are proud of our mining heritage in Bassetlaw and it is something to be recognised. I am currently fighting for miners to receive a fairer deal from the Mineworkers Pension Scheme for example. We are now entering a new age however and we must seize these new opportunities to build back better in Bassetlaw.”

Politics

Chancellor insists Labour rebels ‘know the welfare system needs reform’ as they push for change

Published

2 hours ago

May 9, 2025

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Chancellor insists Labour rebels 'know the welfare system needs reform' as they push for change

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has insisted that rebelling Labour MPs “know the welfare system needs reform” as the government faces a growing backlash over planned cuts.

Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure from Labour MPs, with about 40 in the Red Wall – the party’s traditional heartlands in the north of England – warning the prime minister’s welfare plan is “impossible to support” in its current form.

Dozens have thrown their support behind a letter urging the government to “delay” the proposals, which they blasted as “the biggest attack on the welfare state” since Tory austerity.

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Ms Reeves on Friday reiterated her plans for reform, insisting that no-one, including Labour MPs and party members, “thinks that the current welfare system created by the Conservative Party is working today”.

She said: “They know that the system needs reform. We do need to reform how the welfare system works if we’re going to grow our economy.”

But, the chancellor added, if the government is going to lift people out of poverty “the focus has got to be on supporting people into work”.

“Of course if you can’t work, the welfare state must always be there for you, and with this government it will be,” she said.

The reforms, announced ahead of Ms Reeves’s spring statement in March, include cuts to Personal Independence Payments (PIP), one of the main types of disability benefit, and a hike in the universal credit standard allowance.

The government has claimed that changes to welfare will cut the budget by £4.8bn overall.

Separately, Downing Street refused on Friday to deny that Ms Reeves has consulted on potentially overhauling their winter fuel payment policy.

Labour’s unpopular decision to means-test the policy has taken the benefit away from millions of pensioners.

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Ministers have faced pressure from their own backbenchers to rethink the policy in the wake of last week’s local election results, which saw Labour lose the Runcorn by-election and control of Doncaster Council to Reform UK.

Asked if the chancellor has discussed the winter fuel payment in private, the prime minister’s spokesperson said they would not give a running commentary.

Pushed again, Number 10 said a “range” of discussions take place in government – which is not a denial.

However, it is worth noting that when reports emerged earlier this week that Downing Street was reviewing the policy, the government strongly pushed back on that suggestion.

Politics

Taiwan lawmaker calls for Bitcoin reserve at national conference

Published

8 hours ago

May 9, 2025

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Taiwan lawmaker calls for Bitcoin reserve at national conference

Taiwanese lawmaker Ko Ju-Chun has called on the government to consider adding Bitcoin to its national reserves, suggesting it could serve as a hedge against global economic uncertainty.

Ko, a legislator at-large in Taiwan’s legislative body, the Legislative Yuan, took to X on Friday to report that he had advocated Bitcoin (BTC) investment by the Taiwanese government at the National Conference on May 9.

In his remarks, Ko cited Bitcoin’s potential to become a hedge amid global economic risks and urged Taiwan to recognize the cryptocurrency alongside gold and foreign exchange reserves to boost its financial resilience.

Ko’s announcement came shortly after the legislator held talks with Samson Mow, who advocates for Bitcoin adoption by states like El Salvador at his BTC tech firm Jan3.

Taiwan is an export-oriented economy

Ko highlighted that Taiwan is an export-driven economy that has experienced significant fluctuations in its national currency, the New Taiwan dollar, amid global inflation and intensifying geopolitical risks.

“We currently have a gold reserve of 423 metric tons, and our foreign exchange reserves amount to $577 billion, including investments in US Treasury bonds,” the lawmaker stated.

In a scenario of more intense currency volatility or potential regional conflicts, Taiwan may “very likely be unable to ensure the security and liquidity,” Ko continued, adding that Bitcoin could be a great addition to Taiwan’s reserves for several reasons.

Law, Investments, Taiwan, Samson Mow, Policy, Bitcoin Reserve — *Ko Ju-Chun advocated for the adoption of Bitcoin by the Taiwanese government before the Legislative Yuan. Source: Ko Ju-Chun*

“Bitcoin has been operating for over 15 years. It has a fixed total supply, is decentralized, and is resistant to censorship. Many countries are focusing on its hedging attributes. At the same time, in intense situations, it may not face the risk of embargo,” he said.

Bitcoin is not the only solution

Referring to many global initiatives considering Bitcoin adoption as a reserve asset, Ko stressed that he’s not advocating for Bitcoin as the “only solution” to rising economic challenges.

Instead, the legislator suggested adding a “small proportion of Bitcoin” into the diversified assets as tools for sovereign asset allocation and risk hedging, and backup capacity of Taiwan’s financial system.

He previously suggested that Taiwan could allocate a maximum of 5% of its $50 billion reserve to Bitcoin in an X post on May 6.

“When exchange rate risk and regional uncertainty increase, it is time to introduce new tools to construct a more flexible financial strategy framework,” Ko said, adding:

“As former Dean Chen Chong said, Bitcoin is the gun of the digital era. It may also be the gold of the digital era, the silver of the digital era. Or it could be gunpowder. A wise nation will not let weapons be in others’ hands.”

The news comes as Taiwan is emerging as a crypto-friendly jurisdiction, with the Financial Supervisory Commission pushing institutional trials of crypto custody services in late 2024.

Mainland China continues to maintain its hostile stance on cryptocurrency after imposing a ban on multiple crypto activities, including mining, in 2021.

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Politics

Germany seizes $38M in crypto from Bybit hack-linked eXch exchange

Published

12 hours ago

May 9, 2025

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Germany seizes M in crypto from Bybit hack-linked eXch exchange

German law enforcement seized 34 million euros ($38 million) in cryptocurrency from eXch, a cryptocurrency platform allegedly used to launder funds stolen after Bybit’s record-breaking $1.4 billion hack.

The seizure, announced on May 9 by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Frankfurt’s main prosecutor’s office, involved multiple crypto assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Dash (DASH). The move marks the third-largest crypto confiscation in the BKA’s history.

The authorities also seized eXch’s German server infrastructure with over eight terabytes of data and shut down the platform, the announcement added.

eXch exchanged crypto without AML

In the statement, the BKA described eXch as a “swapping” service that allowed users to exchange various crypto assets without implementing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures.

The platform had operated since 2014 and reportedly facilitated about $1.9 billion in crypto transfers, some of which were believed to be of “criminal origin,” including assets laundered during the Bybit hack.

Germany seizes $38M in crypto from Bybit hack-linked eXch exchange — *Example of flow of Bybit exploit funds moving through eXch and bridging back and forth between Ether and Bitcoin. Source: TRM Labs*

“Among other things, a portion of the $1.5 billion stolen from the Bybit crypto exchange, which was hacked on Feb. 21, 2025, is said to have been exchanged via eXch,” the authorities wrote.

Multisig, FixedFloat among laundering cases

According to a post by crypto sleuth ZachXBT, eXch was also involved in laundering millions of funds from other crypto thefts and exploits, including Multisig, FixedFloat and the $243 million Genesis creditor theft.

Those were in addition to “countless phishing drainer services over the past few years with refusal to block addresses and freeze orders,” ZachXBT said.

Germany, AML, Crimes, Hacks, Policy, Bybit — *Source: ZachXBT*

ZachXBT was among the first security analysts to report on eXch’s links to laundering $35 million of crypto assets stolen from Bybit soon after the hack was confirmed.

“Lazarus Group transferred 5K ETH from the Bybit Hack to a new address and began laundering funds via eXch (a centralized mixer) and bridging funds to Bitcoin via Chainflip,” ZachXBT wrote in a Telegram post on Feb. 22.

eXch announced termination of services by May 1

After initially denying involvement in laundering funds from the Bybit hack, eXch eventually announced it would cease operations by May 1 in a Bitcoin Talk post published in mid-April.

“Even though we have been able to operate despite some failed attempts to shut down our infrastructure […], we don’t see any point in operating in a hostile environment where we are the target of SIGINT [Signals Intelligence] simply because some people misinterpret our goals,” it wrote.

Addressing the seizure, senior public prosecutor Benjamin Krause stressed the importance of action against “quick and anonymous opportunities for money laundering for any amount.”

“Crypto swapping is an essential component of the underground economy, used to conceal incriminated funds from illegal activities such as hacking or trading in stolen payment card data, thus making them available to perpetrators,” he said.

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