Diane Abbott accused of ‘exploiting tragedy’ in now-deleted tweet over migrant deaths

Published

2 years ago

August 10, 2023

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Diane Abbott has been accused of exploiting the deaths of 41 migrants in a shipwreck off Italy in a now-deleted tweet about the tragedy.

The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, who is currently suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party, tweeted a link to an article about the deaths earlier today, and wrote: “These migrants have indeed f***** off. To the bottom of the sea.”

Ms Abbott sent the tweet at 3.33pm, and it was deleted just over an hour later.

Forty-one migrants were killed in the shipwreck off the island of Lampedusa in Italy after a large wave apparently flipped the vessel. There were only four survivors.

The former shadow home secretary’s comments came off the back of Conservative deputy chairman Lee Anderson’s controversial remark to Express.co.uk on Monday evening – that if migrants do not want to be housed on a barge, they should “f*** off back to France”.

Ms Abbott had responded to Mr Anderson’s remark yesterday, calling them a “new low even for the Tories”, to which he replied that he had told “illegal migrants to go back to France not genuine asylum seekers”.

However, today’s comment provoked an immediate backlash from X (formerly called Twitter) users, and the Tory MP for Bassetlaw, Brendan Clarke-Smith, accused her and the Labour Party of “exploiting the tragedy” for political gain.

He wrote: “And to think that Sir Keir Starmer campaigned for this person to be made our home secretary.

“We all know that you can’t take Labour seriously on immigration or national security, but what a shame they also seek to exploit tragedies like this to push their warped agenda.”

Mr Clarke-Smith’s response was endorsed by the Conservative Party when approached for comment.

Ms Abbott currently sits as an independent MP after having had the whip suspended in April following remarks in which she suggested Jewish people do not face racism, but instead suffer prejudice similar to “redheads”.

She wrote a letter to The Observer newspaper, in response to an article which had the headline: “Racism in Britain is not black and white. It’s far more complicated.”

The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP said she was responding to writer Tomiwa Owolade’s claims that “Irish, Jewish and Traveller people all suffer from ‘racism'”.

The Labour Party called her comments “deeply offensive and wrong” and suspended her pending an investigation.

Ms Abbott and the Labour Party have been approached for comment.

Politics

Marshall Islands launches universal basic income program using digital wallet

Published

3 hours ago

November 18, 2025

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Marshall Islands launches universal basic income program using digital wallet

The Republic of the Marshall Islands announced that it would allow citizens to access funds through a government-issued digital asset as part of the nation’s Universal Basic Income (UBI) program.

In a Wednesday announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the government of the island nation said it had launched a digital wallet called Lomalo, which will utilize the US dollar-pegged stablecoin USDM1 to enable citizens to access the UBI program. According to the government, the first disbursement of funds will occur in late November, allowing citizens to access them through their wallet, by physical check, or via direct deposit.

“By introducing a secure digital option alongside our traditional methods, we are strengthening our financial systems and ensuring that no community is left behind,” said David Paul, finance minister for the Marshall Islands.

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Neighboring Pacific island nations have rolled out similar programs over the years, including Palau’s stablecoin on the XRP Ledger for government employees, and the central bank of the Solomon Islands’ Bokolo Cash for peer-to-peer transactions and retail payments in the nation’s capital, Honiara.

“Citizens will be able to transfer to other registered Lomalo users,” a spokesperson for the Marshall Islands’ finance minister told Cointelegraph. “Right now, only citizens registered for the UBI can set up a wallet.”

Warnings from the IMF on the Marshall Islands utilizing digital assets

The launch of the digital wallet as part of the islands’ UBI program followed warnings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 2023, the group urged the government of the Marshall Islands to reconsider its central bank digital currency program, then known as SOV.

“Progress on rolling back past digital initiatives is welcome,” said the IMF in a Sept. 10 notice. “Current plans to issue a ‘digital sovereign bond’ carry significant risks relative to perceived returns, which cannot be effectively mitigated given lack of pre-requisite capacity. Thus, in the mission’s view, the authorities should not proceed with the global launch as planned.”

The IMF said that the expansion of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), which the Marshall Islands began recognizing as legal entities in 2022, and the launch of the UBI program using the “untested” USDM1 could have “adverse macro-fiscal and financial integrity implications.” The fund urged the government to scale back the UBI program to a “more targeted scheme to those who need it the most.”