Keir Starmer sets his sights on closer relationship with Europe if Labour win next election

Published

2 years ago

September 18, 2023

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Labour will look to build a closer trading relationship with the EU if it wins the next election, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

The Labour leader spent the weekend meeting fellow centre-left leaders in Montreal, Canada, including the country’s prime minister Justin Trudeau.

The party has long been critical of the deal negotiated by the Conservatives under Boris Johnson, with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement up for review in 2025.

Speaking to The Financial Times, Sir Keir said: “Almost everyone recognises the deal Johnson struck is not a good deal – it’s far too thin.

Analysis: Labour need to make Sir Keir Starmer look like a prime minister

“As we go into 2025 we will attempt to get a much better deal for the UK.”

Labour has ruled out rejoining the customs union or single market, but Sir Keir said he was confident a better deal could be secured from Brussels.

“I do think we can have a closer trading relationship as well. That’s subject to further discussion.”

“We have to make it work. That’s not a question of going back in. But I refuse to accept that we can’t make it work. I think about those future generations when I say that.

“I say that as a dad. I’ve got a 15-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl. I’m not going to let them grow up in a world where all I’ve got to say to them about their future is, it’s going to be worse than it might otherwise have been.

“I’ve got an utter determination to make this work.”

Sky News’s Sam Coates said: “What’s interesting about this is that Keir Starmer is on the front foot about something that has been a difficult issue for Labour…

“Until now the Labour leader has been quite cautious about a closer relationship with Europe for fear of alienating those who voted for Brexit in 2016 and then Tory rather than Labour in 2019.”

Meanwhile, Labour is also facing renewed pressure from its main union backer Unite, which is reportedly set to launch a grassroots campaign to call for more radical policies on energy and steel.

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Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has called for public ownership of energy and has been critical of Sir Keir in the past.

She told The Guardian the union would be targeting so-called “red wall” areas as part of a bid to put pressure on the Labour leadership.

Politics

Binance mulls new US strategy, CZ potentially reducing stake: Report

Published

11 hours ago

December 17, 2025

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Binance mulls new US strategy, CZ potentially reducing stake: Report

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, is considering a strategic reshuffling to strengthen its presence in the US market, a move that could see Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s majority stake in the company reduced.

Zhao’s controlling stake in Binance has been a “major hurdle” to the company expanding to strategically critical US states, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter. Although no concrete plans have been announced, the conversation surrounding any potential action remains reportedly “fluid.”

The company is also considering partnerships with US-based companies, including asset manager BlackRock and decentralized finance (DeFi) platform World Liberty Financial (WLFI), which is linked to US President Donald Trump, to strengthen its footprint in the country.

Rumors of Binance’s return to the US began to circulate in October after Trump pardoned Zhao, fueled by speculation from crypto industry executives and comments that Zhao made on social media.

“Will do everything we can to help make America the capital of crypto and advance Web3 worldwide,” Zhao said in October after the pardon.

Changpeng Zhao, United States, Binance — *Source:* CZ

In June 2019, Binance announced that it would stop serving US customers, and a separate company, called Binance.US and operated by BAM Trading Services, was formed to provide regulatory-compliant services to US users.

In 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Binance Holdings Ltd. operated both Binance.com and BAM Trading Services.

Binance.US does not feature crypto derivatives or access to the global Binance exchange’s liquidity and operates as a completely separate crypto exchange.

Cointelegraph reached out to Binance and Binance.US but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

The US is considered a key market for crypto exchanges and is ranked as the number two for global crypto adoption, according to Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index. Expanding to the US would open up US liquidity to the world’s largest crypto exchange.

Several US lawmakers voice opposition to the CZ pardon and the crypto industry

Trump’s pardon of Zhao in October drew backlash from several Democratic Party lawmakers in the US, including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and California Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

Waters said the pardon was a form of pay-to-play and accused Trump of doing political favors for the crypto industry that “helped line his pockets.”

Warren, who is one of the most vocal critics of the crypto industry, also criticized the pardon, characterizing it as “corruption.”

The comments reflect pockets of resistance among some Democratic lawmakers to the crypto industry’s continued expansion in the US and could signal potential opposition to Binance returning to the US.

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