Sir Keir Starmer insists there is ‘unity’ in Labour as he continues to resist calls to back ceasefire in Israel-Hamas war

Published

1 year ago

November 3, 2023

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Sir Keir Starmer has insisted there is “unity” within Labour, despite demands for him to change his stance on the Israel-Hamas war and back calls for a ceasefire.

The growing descent in his party hit a new peak late on Thursday, when two council leaders called on the Labour leader to resign over his position on the Middle East conflict.

They accused Sir Keir of “blindly following” the government and not standing up for “Labour values”.

The Labour leader has backed calls for “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting but has previously said he does not believe a ceasefire is the “correct position” to take.

A number of other senior party figures, including London mayor Sadiq Khan, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, have also recently broken ranks to call for a ceasefire.

But, speaking at an event in Durham on Friday, Sir Keir said the “focus” should be on people in Gaza and Israel who “most desperately need our support and help – not on political voices in our own country”.

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After outlining how his party had been singing from the same hymn sheet at its recent conference over its plans for government, the Labour leader said: “On the question of Gaza, there is also unity.

“Whether people are asking for a ceasefire or a humanitarian pause, it comes from the same place, which is… people desperately want to see an alleviation of a situation.

“That is a human emotion to what we’re seeing on our televisions, and images and reports, every single day. I am not surprised that people are trying to go for any option that they see would alleviate the awful situation.

“I don’t think that should be taken as great division. That is a human emotion. What I’ve done is share that emotion… but what I’ve concentrated on is what is the practical way to alleviate the situation on the ground.”

Sir Keir said aligning with both the British and American governments in their calls for so-called humanitarian pauses in the fighting, to allow aid into the Gaza Strip, would help “bring about that change”.

He added: “For me, this isn’t about the particular position taken by individuals in the Labour Party. It’s about alleviating that suffering.”

Asked if he would fire any shadow ministers who disagreed with him and continued to call for a ceasefire, Sir Keir said: “Collective responsibility is important”.

He added: “It’s my job as leader of the party to assess how we enforce and bring about collective responsibility. And I will do so.

“But I’ve set out my position clearly. I am not doing so in accordance with particular views that individual members of the Labour party may or may not take. That is not my central objective and I do not think that should be the priority.

“The priority is to get change in the situation [in the Middle East] just as quickly as we can.”

Sir Keir was in the North East to set out his mission for government to business leaders, as he called for this week’s King Speech to act as a “kick start” to “get Britain building”.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak‘s policy agenda for the 12 months ahead is due to be delivered on Tuesday, as Westminster prepares for the pomp and ceremony of the State Opening of Parliament.

Reports suggest there will be a big focus on crime from the government, as well as legislative plans for conference announcements, such as phasing out smoking.

The Labour leader outlined what he believed should feature in the speech in order to achieve a “decade of national renewal” – including building more infrastructure, overhauling planning systems, and upskilling young people in new technical colleges.

“Next week is the King’s Speech and we can already see it will only bring more of the same,” said Sir Keir. “A manifesto for the 14th year of Tory failure and the starting gun fired on the next general election.

“[That vote will be] a choice of a Conservative Party with no plan for the future, hurtling down the only high-speed project it’s ever managed to build – the highway to British decline – or the Labour alternative, a party that understands the potential that lies in regions like this, that has a plan to grow every corner of this country.”

He added: “The King’s Speech should be about a national mission to get Britain building again and to grow our country from the grassroots, because Britain needs a new business model.”

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‘Will the PM side with parents or tech bros?’: Labour peer demands action on children’s smartphone safety

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1 hour ago

April 4, 2025

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'Will the PM side with parents or tech bros?': Labour peer demands action on children's smartphone safety

Sir Keir Starmer needs to choose between parents who want stronger action to tackle harmful content on children’s phones, or the “tech bros” who are resisting changes to their platforms, Baroness Harriet Harman has said.

Speaking to Beth Rigby on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the Labour peer noted that the prime minister met with the creators of hit Netflix drama Adolescence to discuss safety on social media, but she questioned if he is going to take action to “stop the tech companies allowing this sort of stuff” on their platforms where children can access it.

Sir Keir hosted a roundtable on Monday with Adolescence co-writer Jack Thorne and producer Jo Johnson to discuss issues raised in the series, which centres on a 13-year-old boy arrested for the murder of a young girl, and the rise of incel culture.

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The aim was to discuss how to prevent young boys being dragged into a “whirlpool of hatred and misogyny”, and the prime minister said the four-part series raises questions about how to keep young people safe from technology.

Sir Keir has backed calls for the four-part drama to be shown in all schools across the country, but Baroness Harman questioned what is going to be achieved by having young people simply watch the show.

“Two questions were raised [for me],” she said. ” Firstly – after they’ve watched it, what is going to be the discussion afterwards?

“And secondly, is he going to act to stop the tech companies allowing this sort of stuff to go online into smartphones without protection of children?

“Because if the tech companies wanted to do this, they could actually protect children. They can do everything they want with their tech.”

She acknowledged there are “very big public policy challenges” in this area, but added of the prime minister: “Is he going to side with parents who are terrified and want this content off their children’s phones, or is he going to accept the tech bros’ resistance to having to make changes?”

👉 Click here to listen to Electoral Dysfunction on your podcast app 👈

Can parliament keep up?

The Labour peer backed the Conservative Party’s call for a ban on smartphones in schools to be mandated from Westminster, saying it would “enable all schools not to have a discussion with their parents or to battle it out, but just to say, this is the ruling” from central government, which Ofsted would then enforce.

“I’m sensitive to the idea that we shouldn’t constantly be telling schools what to do,” she continued. “And they’ve got a lot of common sense and a lot of professional experience, and they should have as much autonomy as possible.

“But perhaps it’s easier for them if it’s done top down.”

Baroness Harman also questioned the speed with which parliament is actually able to legislate to deal with the very rapid development of new technologies, and posits that it could “change its processes to be able to legislate in real time”.

She suggested that a “powerful select committee” of MPs could be established to do that, because “otherwise we talk about it, and then we’re not able to legislate for 10 years – by which time that problem has really set in, and we’ve got a whole load more problems”.

On the podcast, the trio also discussed the 10% tariffs imposed on the UK by Donald Trump and the government’s efforts to strike a trade deal with the US to mitigate the impact of the levy.

The government has refused to rule out scrapping the Digital Services Tax, a 2% levy on tech giants’ revenues in the UK, as part of the negotiations with the Trump administration – a move Baroness Harman said would be “very heartbreaking”.

👉 Click here to listen to Electoral Dysfunction on your podcast app 👈

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Bakkt investors file class-action lawsuit after loss of Webull, BoA contracts

Published

4 hours ago

April 4, 2025

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Bakkt investors file class-action lawsuit after loss of Webull, BoA contracts

A group of investors with cryptocurrency custody and trading firm Bakkt Holdings filed a class-action lawsuit alleging false or misleading statements and a failure to disclose certain information.

Lead plaintiff Guy Serge A. Franklin called for a jury trial as part of a complaint against Bakkt, senior adviser and former CEO Gavin Michael, CEO and president Andrew Main, and interim chief financial officer Karen Alexander, according to an April 2 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The group of investors allege damages as the result of violations of US securites laws and a lack of transparency surrounding its agreement with clients: Webull and Bank of America (BoA).

Law, Investments, United States, Bakkt — *April 2 complaint against Bakkt and its executives. Source: PACER*

The loss of Bank of America and Webull will result “in a 73% loss in top line revenue” due to the two firms making up a significant percentage of its services revenue, the investor group alleges in the lawsuit. The filing stated Webull made up 74% of Bakkt’s crypto services revenue through most of 2023 and 2024, and Bank of America made up 17% of its loyalty services revenue from January to September 2024.

Bakkt disclosed on March 17 that Bank of America and Webull did not intend to renew their agreements with the firm ending in 2025. The announcement likely contributed to the company’s share price falling more than 27% in the following 24 hours. The investors allege Bakkt “misrepresented the stability and/or diversity of its crypto services revenue” and failed to disclose that this revenue was “substantially dependent” on Webull’s contract.

“As a result of Defendants’ wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of the Company’s securities, Plaintiff and other Class members have suffered significant losses and damages,” said the suit.

Other law offices said they were investigating Bakkt for securities law violations, suggesting additional class-action lawsuits may be in the works. Cointelegraph contacted Bakkt for a comment on the lawsuit but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Prices affected by Trump Media reports

Bakkt’s share price surged roughly 162% in November 2024 after reports suggested that then-US President-elect Donald Trump’s media company was considering acquiring the firm. As of April 2025, neither company has officially announced a deal.

Shares in Bakkt (BKKT) were $8.15 at the time of publication, having fallen more than 36% in the previous 30 days.

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Trump tariffs squeeze already struggling Bitcoin miners — Braiins exec

Published

11 hours ago

April 4, 2025

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Trump tariffs squeeze already struggling Bitcoin miners — Braiins exec

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.

“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.

“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.

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.

“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.

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