Sir Keir Starmer is preparing for the annual TUC feast with union leaders – but one important person is on the ‘naughty step’
Mick Lynch is. But Sharon Graham isn’t.
Yet Mick’s union the RMT isn’t even affiliated to the Labour Party, while Sharon’s Unite is one of the party’s biggest donors.
Sir Keir Starmer breezes into blowy Liverpool on day two of the TUC conference to attend the traditional gala dinner for shadow cabinet ministers and the TUC’s general council, mostly the leaders of the big unions.
Mick’s predecessor, the loud, no-nonsense left-winger Bob Crow – who stormed out of a TUC speech by Sir Tony Blair some years ago, always used to boycott the dinner, declaring that he was “going down the pub” instead.
But savvy Mick, the thinking man’s Bob Crow, is going. It seems he’s not one to turn down a free dinner. He’s also not the sort to miss the opportunity to put his point of view to the Labour leader or any other senior politician.
But Sharon, who since her election as Unite general secretary in late 2021 has made a point of avoiding the kind of political scheming of her extrovert predecessor Len McCluskey, is not going to the dinner.
She’ll be busy dealing with an industrial dispute on Monday evening, she told Sky News. Probably just as well, after her “1990s tribute act” attack on Sir Keir in a provocative Sunday Times article.
According to insiders, Sir Keir and his deputy Angela Rayner, who makes the big set-piece speech on behalf of the Labour Party at the TUC on Tuesday morning, have put Sharon “on the naughty step” after her frequent criticisms of the Labour leadership.
She did reveal to Sky News in an interview, however, that she’s meeting Sir Keir next week, ahead of Labour’s conference next month. So relations can’t be all that bad.
Despite their differing dining arrangements, both Mick and Sharon will be leading players in the debates at the TUC conference over the next few days.
The RMT leader is leading the unions’ fight against the government’s Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act, which received Royal Assent at the end of July.
He told Sky News there are no new rail strikes planned at the moment. But, he said, if the employers, the Rail Delivery Group which represents the train companies, don’t come up with a new offer soon, there will be.
Sharon Graham of UNITE
What’s the betting those new strikes with coincide with the Conservative Party conference, which takes place between 1 and 4 October? Don’t forget, that’s more or less when hospital consultants are going on strike. They’re walking out on between 2 and 5 October.
Broken Britain, anyone?
Sharon may not be joining Sir Keir, Mick and the other diners at the TUC feast, but the Unite leader will be active in the conference hall, leading the demands for re-nationalisation of energy companies in a debate on Monday.
In her Sunday Times article, she also called for wealth taxes – rejected by shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves – and taxes on what she called “excessive” business profits.
The conference began on Sunday afternoon with stirring speeches by two other senior union leaders, Christina McAnea of Unison and Paul Serwotka of the civil service union PCS.
He talked powerfully about “broken Britain”, though he was referring to crumbling concrete in schools and escaping prisoners rather than strikes by trade unions!
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Mick Lynch is leading the unions’ fight against the government’s Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act
The TUC’s new general secretary, the affable scouser Paul Nowak, earlier announced a move to report the government to the United Nations workers’ rights watchdog, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) over what he called the government’s “pernicious” anti-strike laws.
Not sure that move will have Tory ministers quaking in their boots. After all, isn’t the ILO just a talking shop? To be fair, though, the TUC chief claimed in a Sky News interview that unions have won significant legal battles against the government in the past.
This could be the last TUC conference before a general election which Labour are favourites to win, Christina McAnea predicted in her speech on funding public services, although realistically the election conference is more likely to be just before the election.
If she’s right, there could be a mood celebration at next year’s general council dinner. Although his union is not affiliated to Labour, the RMT’s Mick will probably be there.
And who knows, perhaps Unite’s Sharon – if she’s no longer on the naughty step – will join him at the top table.
United Kingdom regulators are increasingly concerned about the impact of stablecoins and the broader crypto industry on the country’s financial system and monetary stability.
During Financial Policy Committee meetings held on April 4 and 8, regulators noted that while the current “interconnectedness of unbacked crypto asset markets with the real economy and financial sector is growing but remains relatively limited,” stablecoins and crypto markets have expanded significantly in the past year, drawing heightened regulatory attention.
The UK, its central bank and its local regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, have been developing frameworks for stablecoins to ensure financial resilience. The committee claims to have determined the factors that make a stablecoin resilient:
“A key determinant of the resilience of stablecoins was the liquidity, credit and market risks of their backing assets, which were in place to ensure that redemptions can be met in a timely manner at par, even in periods of stress.“
The committee raised alarm over the “greater issuance of sterling offshore stablecoins with inappropriate backing assets.” This has implications for UK financial markets and “even with appropriate regulation, greater use of stablecoins denominated in foreign currencies could make some economies vulnerable to currency substitution,” the committee said.
Bank of England. Source: Wikimedia
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Currency substitution risks spark concern
Committee members are worried that if stablecoin use were to move beyond crypto settlements, it could result in “implications for retail and wholesale cross-border payments.” In retail flows, stablecoin use by households and small and medium-sized enterprises could, for cross-border payments, “result in currency substitution,” increasing counterparty risk.
The statement followed reports about growing stablecoin adoption not limited to crypto remittances in emerging markets, especially in Africa. A recent report from Chainalysis found that stablecoins now make up nearly half of all transaction volume in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Similarly, a late 2024 report suggested that a number of emerging economies across Africa have the potential to become digital asset hubs. Ben Caselin, chief marketing officer of Johannesburg-based crypto exchange VALR, told Cointelegraph at the time:
“South Africa is the entryway to the rest of Africa with a good rule of law and independent judiciary. It’s easy to open a company in South Africa.”
Still, reports of similar trends in developed economies with easily accessible financial infrastructure are scarce. Experts often point to the unavailability of banking services and unstable local fiat currencies as the reason why developing countries — from Africa in particular — are eager to adopt dollar-based stablecoins and crypto.
Related: 3 reasons why stablecoin growth thrives globally — Will US follow under Trump?
UK is not alone in worrying
The United Kingdom is in good company in worrying about the impact of stablecoins and the broader crypto industry on monetary stability. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) recently warned that crypto will increasingly threaten traditional financial markets’ stability as the industry grows and becomes more entwined with conventional finance players. ESMA’s executive director, Natasha Cazenave said:
“We cannot rule out that future sharp drops in crypto prices could have knock-on effects on our financial system.”
Local regulators are already acting on those concerns. In late March, the European Union’s insurance authority proposed a blanket rule that would mandate insurance firms to maintain capital equal to the value of their crypto holdings as part of a measure to mitigate risks for policyholders.
Magazine: Ridiculous ‘Chinese Mint’ crypto scam, Japan dives into stablecoins: Asia Express
The home secretary has denied the government is watering down its response to child grooming gangs after it was accused of dropping plans for local inquiries.
Yvette Cooper announced at the beginning of the year that “victim-centred, locally-led inquiries” would take place in five areas after the issue caught the attention of tech billionaire Elon Musk.
But this week, safeguarding minister Jess Phillips did not provide an update on the reviews and instead said local authorities would be able to access a £5m fund to support any work they wanted to carry out.
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Her statement led to accusations that the government was diluting the importance of the local inquiries by giving councils the choice over how to spend the money.
Asked by Anna Jones on Sky News whether the government was “watering down” its response, Ms Cooper said: “No, completely the opposite.
“What we’re doing is increasing the action we’re taking on this vile crime.”
The home secretary pointed to the rapid audit that is being carried out by Baroness Louise Casey, which will bring together the data gathered so far on grooming gangs and consider the lessons that should be learned at a national level.
She added: “Most important of all, what we’re doing is we’re increasing the police investigations, because these are dangerous perpetrators and again, they should be behind bars.”
Elon Musk has been critical of Labour’s response to grooming gangs and has called for a national inquiry.
Demands for a national inquiry into the scandal – in which girls as young as 11 were groomed and raped across a number of towns and cities in England over a decade ago – grew louder this year after Mr Musk accused Labour of failing to act on the issue on his social media platform X.
The government refused to hold a national inquiry, citing the work carried out by Professor Alexis Jay, who led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse that looked into abuse by organised groups following multiple convictions of sexual offences against children across the UK between 2010-2014.
However, it did commit to holding local inquiries in five areas backed by £5m in funding and advised by Tom Crowther KC.
‘Political mess’
But ministers are facing a backlash following Ms Phillips’ statement in the Commons on Tuesday – made an hour before parliament rose for Easter recess – in which she said the government would take a “flexible approach” by allowing five councils to launch victims’ panels or locally led audits.
Labour MPs angry with government decision grooming gangs
With about an hour until the House of Commons rose for Easter recess, the government announced it was taking a more “flexible” approach to the local grooming gang inquiries.
Safeguarding minister Jess Philips argued this was based on experience from certain affected areas, and that the government is funding new police investigations to re-open historic cases.
Sky News presenter and former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Trevor Philips called the move “utterly shameful” and claimed it was a political decision.
One Labour MP told Sky News: “Some people are very angry. I despair. I don’t disagree with many of our decisions but we just play to Reform – someone somewhere needs sacking.”
The government insists party political misinformation is fanning the flames of frustration in Labour, and that they not watering down the inquiries – on the contrary, they say are increasing the action being taken – , but while many Labour MPs have one eye on Reform in the rearview mirror, any accusations of being soft on grooming gangs only provides political ammunition to their adversaries.
One Labour MP told Sky News the issue had turned into a “political mess” and that they were being called “grooming sympathisers”.
On the update from Ms Phillips on Tuesday, they said it might have been the “right thing to do” but that it was “horrible politically”.
“We are all getting so much abuse. It’s just political naivety in the extreme.”
Read more:
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Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said yesterday that she was “absolutely astonished that Labour has dropped what it said it would do in January”.
“They are clearly uncomfortable with having inquiries that are looking into this issue,”she said.
“They said that they’ll have a pot of money for councils to bid in, but why would a council bid for money to investigate itself?
“We need something that is national. We need a statutory inquiry so we can compel witnesses, and I’m going to make sure that we force another vote.”
‘We will leave no stone unturned’
Ms Phillips later defended her decision, saying there was “far too much party political misinformation about the action that is being taken when everyone should be trying to support victims and survivors”.
“We are funding new police investigations to re-open historic cases, providing national support for locally led inquiries and action, and Louise Casey… is currently reviewing the nature, scale and ethnicity of grooming gangs offending across the country.
“We will not hesitate to go further, unlike the previous government, who showed no interest in this issue over 14 years and did nothing to progress the recommendations from the seven year national inquiry when they had the chance.
“We will leave no stone unturned in pursuit of justice for victims and will be unrelenting in our crackdown on sick predators and perpetrators who prey on vulnerable children.”
Non-fungible token marketplace OpenSea has urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission to exclude NFT marketplaces from regulation under federal securities laws.
The SEC needs to “clearly state that NFT marketplaces like OpenSea do not qualify as exchanges under federal securities laws,” OpenSea general counsel Adele Faure and deputy general counsel Laura Brookover said in an April 9 letter to Commissioner Hester Peirce, who leads the agency’s Crypto Task Force.
Faure and Brookover argued that NFT marketplaces don’t meet the legal definition of an exchange under US securities laws as they don’t execute transactions, act as intermediaries or bring together multiple sellers for the same asset.
“The Commission’s past enforcement agenda has created uncertainty. We therefore urge the Commission to remove this uncertainty and protect the ability of US technology companies to lead in this space,” Faure and Brookover wrote.
OpenSea’s legal team has asked the SEC to issue informal guidance on NFT Marketplaces. Source: SEC
“In preparing this guidance, the Crypto Task Force should specifically address the application of exchange regulations to marketplaces for non-fungible assets, similar to the recent staff statements on memecoins and stablecoins,” Faure and Brookover added.
Under a notice published on April 4, the SEC said stablecoins that meet specific criteria are considered “non-securities” and are exempt from transaction reporting requirements.
Meanwhile, the SEC’s division of corporation finance said in a Feb. 27 staff statement that memecoins are not securities under the federal securities laws but are more akin to collectibles.
NFT marketplaces don’t fit broker definition, says OpenSea
Faure and Brookover argued the Crypto Task Force should also exempt NFT marketplaces like OpenSea from having to register as a broker, arguing they don’t give investment advice, execute transactions, or custody customer assets.
“We ask the SEC to clear the existing industry confusion on this issue by publishing informal guidance. In the longer term, we invite the Commission to exempt NFT marketplaces like OpenSea from proposed broker regulation,” they said.
Related: OpenSea pauses airdrop reward system after user backlash
Under the Trump administration, the SEC has slowly been walking back its hardline stance toward crypto forged under former Chair Gary Gensler.
The regulator has dismissed a number of enforcement actions it previously launched against crypto firms and has dropped probes into crypto companies over alleged securities law violations, including one into OpenSea.
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