Sir Keir Starmer insists UK will not be a ‘rule-taker’ after backlash over stance on EU
Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he will not allow the UK to become a “rule-taker” after his comments suggesting he did not want to diverge from EU rules sparked criticism.
The Labour leader immediately rejected suggestions from the Conservatives that he wanted to take the UK back into the EU, telling reporters: “There is no case for going back into the EU, and that includes the single market and customs union.”
“Equally, we will not be a rule-taker,” he continued. “The rules and laws of this country will be made in parliament according to the national interest.”
However, he added: “But that does not mean that a Labour government wants to lower standards on food, wants to lower standards on people’s rights at work.
“The Labour Party has been completely consistent on those issues for many many years – there is no surprise here. Incidentally, this is also government policy.”
His remarks come after the Labour leader declared “we don’t want to diverge” from EU rules in footage of a conference of centre-left leaders in Canada seen by Sky News.
Read more: Labour is ‘obsessed with getting into power’ – politics latest
Sir Keir argued Britain’s relationship with the EU could be much stronger, while still remaining outside the bloc and outside the single market, “the more we share a future together”.
The comments have triggered a fresh discussion over how Labour would approach Brexit, with the Tories immediately seizing the opportunity to accuse Sir Keir of wanting to take the UK back into the EU.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said the remarks had shown “the real Keir Starmer” and claimed the Labour leader wanted to “return us into the EU” and “re-run the Brexit agonies of the past”.
Earlier on Friday, a Labour frontbencher told Sky News there would “clearly be ways” in which the UK does diverge from the EU, including through individual trade deals.
James Murray, Labour’s shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, said his party had been “very clear throughout” about any “red lines” there would be with the EU post-Brexit.
He said “we don’t want to be in the single market, we don’t want to be in a customs union, we don’t want to bring back freedom of movement – but we do want a better trading relationship”.
Mr Murray hit back at the criticism from the Conservatives and said they had “no plan to make Brexit work”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Mark Spencer accused Sir Keir of ‘another flip flop’.
Asked how the UK could maximise the advantage of Brexit if it did not diverge from EU rules, Mr Murray told Sky News: “Well, there will clearly be ways in which we do diverge in terms of striking our own trade deals with other countries and so on.
“But the conversation that we’re having today is focused on UK standards and I think what Keir was saying is we have no interest in weakening or watering down UK standards when it comes to things like food standards, consumer protection, workers rights and so on.”
His remarks were echoed by London mayor Sadiq Khan, who said Sir Keir is “right to say, ‘look, the current deal we have with the European Union has got big problems in it’. Some characterise it – I would – as an extreme, hard Brexit deal.”
He said it’s “right” that Sir Keir would seek to “look into having a better deal” when the current deal, negotiated by Boris Johnson, is up for review in 2025.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Do Labour want EU rules?
Mr Murray said there would still be areas where a Labour government would diverge from Brussels, for example by striking trade deals around the world.
He added: “All we’re seeing under the Conservatives is extra red tape on businesses, which means that it’s impacting on economic growth, which means it’s deepening the cost-of-living crisis.”
Sir Keir’s statement was made just days after he was forced to shut down speculation he might join an EU quota system on migrants after he said he would talk to the bloc about a returns deal – prompting the Conservatives to brand him “Mr Open Borders”.
His statement on Saturday evening came in response to a question from John McTernan, a former aide to Sir Tony Blair, at a conference for progressive leaders in Montreal.
Sir Keir said: “Most of the conflict with the UK being outside of the EU arises in so far as the UK wants to diverge and do different things to the rest of our EU partners.
“Obviously the more we share values, the more we share a future together, the less the conflict. And actually different ways of solving problems become available.
Read more:
Starmer sets his sights on closer relationship with Europe
Sir Keir fails to rule out tax burden rise under Labour
“Actually we don’t want to diverge, we don’t want to lower standards, we don’t want to rip up environmental standards, working standards for people that work, food standards and all the rest of it.
“So suddenly, you’re in a space where, notwithstanding the obvious fact that we’re outside the EU and not in the [European Economic Area], there’s a lot more common ground than you might think.”
A Labour spokesperson said following the remarks that the UK had “left the European Union and we’re not going back in any form”.
“Any decisions on what standards we follow will be made in the UK parliament,” they added.
“The Tories have not used Brexit to diverge on food, environmental or labour standards and if they have a plan to do so then they should come clean with people.”
The new trade tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump may place added pressure on the Bitcoin mining ecosystem both domestically and globally, according to one industry executive.
While the US is home to Bitcoin (BTC) mining manufacturing firms such as Auradine, it’s still “not possible to make the whole supply chain, including materials, US-based,” Kristian Csepcsar, chief marketing officer at BTC mining tech provider Braiins, told Cointelegraph.
On April 2, Trump announced sweeping tariffs, imposing a 10% tariff on all countries that export to the US and introducing “reciprocal” levies targeting America’s key trading partners.
Community members have debated the potential effects of the tariffs on Bitcoin, with some saying their impact has been overstated, while others see them as a significant threat.
Tariffs compound existing mining challenges
Csepcsar said the mining industry is already experiencing tough times, pointing to key indicators like the BTC hashprice.
Hashprice — a measure of a miner’s daily revenue per unit of hash power spent to mine BTC blocks — has been on the decline since 2022 and dropped to all-time lows of $50 for the first time in 2024.
According to data from Bitbo, the BTC hashprice was still hovering around all-time low levels of $53 on March 30.
Bitcoin hashprice since late 2013. Source: Bitbo
“Hashprice is the key metric miners follow to understand their bottom line. It is how many dollars one terahash makes a day. A key profitability metric, and it is at all-time lows, ever,” Csepcsar said.
He added that mining equipment tariffs were already increasing under the Biden administration in 2024, and cited comments from Summer Meng, general manager at Chinese crypto mining supplier Bitmars.
Source: Summer Meng
“But they keep getting stricter under Trump,” Csepcsar added, referring to companies such as the China-based Bitmain — the world’s largest ASIC manufacturer — which is subject to the new tariffs.
Trump’s latest measures include a 34% additional tariff on top of an existing 20% levy for Chinese mining imports. In response, China reportedly imposed its own retaliatory tariffs on April 4.
BTC mining firms to “lose in the short term”
Csepcsar also noted that cutting-edge chips for crypto mining are currently massively produced in countries like Taiwan and South Korea, which were hit by new 32% and 25% tariffs, respectively.
“It will take a decade for the US to catch up with cutting-edge chip manufacturing. So again, companies, including American ones, lose in the short term,” he said.
Source: jmhorp
Csepcsar also observed that some countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States region, including Russia and Kazakhstan, have been beefing up mining efforts and could potentially overtake the US in hashrate dominance.
Related: Bitcoin mining using coal energy down 43% since 2011 — Report
“If we continue to see trade war, these regions with low tariffs and more favorable mining conditions can see a major boom,” Csepcsar warned.
As the newly announced tariffs potentially hurt Bitcoin mining both globally and in the US, it may become more difficult for Trump to keep his promise of making the US the global mining leader.
Trump’s stance on crypto has shifted multiple times over the years. As his administration embraces a more pro-crypto agenda, it remains to be seen how the latest economic policies will impact his long-term strategy for digital assets.
Magazine: Bitcoin ATH sooner than expected? XRP may drop 40%, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 23 – 29
Cryptocurrency exchange OKX is under renewed regulatory scrutiny in Europe after Maltese authorities issued a major fine for violations of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws.
Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) fined Okcoin Europe — OKX’s Europe-based subsidiary — 1.1 million euros ($1.2 million) after detecting multiple AML failures on the platform in the past, the authority announced on April 3.
While admitting that OKX has significantly improved its AML policies in the past 18 months, the authority “could not ignore” its past compliance failures from 2023, “some of which were deemed to be serious and systematic,” the FIAU notice said.
OKX was among the first crypto exchanges to receive a license under Europe’s new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation via its Malta hub in January 2025.
The news of the $1.2 million penalty in Malta came after Bloomberg in March reported that European Union regulators were probing OKX for laundering $100 million in funds from the Bybit hack.
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou previously claimed that OKX’s Web3 proxy allowed hackers to launder about $100 million, or 40,233 Ether (ETH), from the $1.5 billion hack that occurred in February.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
Magazine: Stablecoin for cyber-scammers launches, Sony L2 drama: Asia Express
Authorities in the US state of Massachusetts continue targeting unlawful cryptocurrency market practices, with a local court fining crypto financial services firm CLS Global.
A federal court in Boston on April 2 sentenced CLS Global on criminal charges related to fraudulent manipulation of crypto trading volume, according to an announcement from the Massachusetts US Attorney’s Office.
In addition to a $428,059 fine, the court prohibited CLS Global from offering services in the US for a probation period of three years.
CLS Global, a crypto market maker registered in the United Arab Emirates, in January pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit market manipulation and one count of wire fraud.
CLS agreed to manipulate the FBI’s “trap token” NexFundAI
The charges against CLS Global followed an undercover law enforcement operation involving NexFundAI, a token created by the FBI as part of a sting operation in May 2024.
CLS Global was among at least three firms that took the FBI’s bait and agreed to provide “market maker services” for NexFundAI, including a fraudulent scheme to attract investors to purchase the token.
In October 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced fraud charges against CLS and its employee, Andrey Zhorzhes. The US securities regulator also filed complaints against two other NexFundAI manipulators, Hong Kong-linked ZM Quant Investment and Russia-linked Gotbit Consulting.
CLS Global’s profile
According to CLS Global CEO Filipp Veselov, the company was founded in 2017 to fill in a “huge gap in the market for high-quality market-making solutions and trading consulting.”
Prior to CLS, Veselov worked at the Russian cryptocurrency exchange platform Latoken, which is advertised as a “global digital asset exchange” and has about 370,000 followers on X.
The CLS team also includes chief revenue officer Pavel Singaevskii, who previously served as sales manager at Stex, a crypto platform that reportedly ceased operations without warning in 2023.
Source: CLS Global
According to CLS Global’s X page, the platform continues operating and has more than 110,000 followers at the time of publication.
How much wash trading is in crypto?
Wash trading is an illegal practice involving artificially inflating trading volume by repeatedly buying and selling the same asset, generating a misleading perception of demand.
According to a January 2025 report by the US blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, the crypto market has at least $2.6 billion in estimated wash traded volumes, or just about 2% of total daily crypto trading volumes, as reported by CoinGecko.
Estimated wash trade volume in crypto. Source: Chainalysis
Related: Russian Gotbit founder strikes $23M plea deal with US prosecutors
Some studies indicate that wash trading makes up a bigger share of the crypto market.
In 2022, the US National Bureau of Economic Research reported that illegal wash trading may account for as much as 70% of average trading volumes on unregulated exchanges.
Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports12 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway