Senior Tories pile pressure on Rishi Sunak to back immediate Gaza ceasefire

Published

1 year ago

December 19, 2023

admin

Rishi Sunak is under pressure to back an immediate ceasefire in Gaza after 10 senior Conservative MPs accused Israel of carrying out the “brutalisation of the civilian Palestinian population” – which they argue risks fuelling more extremism in the region.

The MPs, including former cabinet ministers, have written to Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron to argue that the case for an immediate ceasefire is now “unanswerable”.

It comes before the prime minister is due to face questioning from MPs on the Liaison Committee on Tuesday, in which the war between Hamas and Israel is likely to feature prominently.

In the letter signed by 10 Tory MPs – including former education secretary Kit Malthouse and former environment secretary George Eustice – the group said Israel’s actions appeared to be neither “proportionate or targeted”, with “many thousands of civilians dead and injured, and close to two million forcibly displaced”.

“Thousands of bodies must surely still lie under the rubble,” they continued.

“In particular, the number of women and children who have been killed is profoundly shocking. As you have said yourself, too many Palestinians have died.”

Politics latest: Tory MPs sign letter calling for immediate ceasefire

Their intervention comes as Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration faces mounting international criticism over the scale of civilian casualties.

The conflict in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s attack on 7 October which saw 1,200 people killed and 240 more taken hostage, has flattened much of northern Gaza and has driven 85% of the territory’s population of 2.3 million from their homes.

Meanwhile, aid groups have warned of a spiralling humanitarian crisis as the bombardment continues.

Last weekend, the United Nations General Assembly held a vote in which 153 out of 193 members supported a ceasefire in Gaza. The US voted against the move, while the UK abstained.

On Sunday Lord Cameron called for a “sustainable ceasefire” in the escalating conflict in a move that added to growing global pressure on Israel.

The foreign secretary said “too many civilians have been killed” and urged Israel to do more to “discriminate sufficiently between terrorists and civilians, ensuring its campaign targets Hamas leaders and operatives”.

His language strongly echoed that of US President Joe Biden, who described Israel’s bombing in Gaza following the Hamas terrorist attack on 7 October as “indiscriminate”.

However, Lord Cameron stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire, something that has been a recurring demand by pro-Palestinian campaigners as the death count in Gaza continues to grow.

MPs ‘dismayed’ by UK’s UN stance

The Tory group of MPs who wrote to Mr Sunak said they were “dismayed” that the UK abstained on the UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza when allies including France, Canada and Australia supported it.

Paul Bristow, the Tory MP for Peterborough who was sacked from his government post in October for calling for a ceasefire and who signed the letter, told Sky News’s Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge that on top of the 10 MPs who had written to Lord Cameron, there were “many more behind the scenes” who wanted the UK to push for that outcome.

The letter followed an article from former defence secretary Ben Wallace who warned at the weekend that Israel risked losing its “legal” and “moral” authority if it continued with its “killing rage” in Gaza as he appealed to all sides to pursue a two-state solution.

Asked about Mr Wallace’s article during a trip to Scotland, Rishi Sunak said that while Israel “obviously has a right to defend itself against what was an appalling terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas… it must do that in accordance with humanitarian law”.

“It’s clear that too many civilian lives have been lost and nobody wants to see this conflict go on a day longer than it has to,” the prime minister added.

Elsewhere in the letter to the foreign secretary, the 10 Conservative MPs went on to warn that the risk of disease and starvation was “imminent” as the Palestinian population is “kettled into ever smaller areas”.

“By any measure we are witnessing a catastrophe of precisely the kind the 1949 Geneva Conventions were supposed to prevent. As such, it is unconscionable that we should make Gaza an exception to the rules and obligations those accords created,” the letter by the MPs said.

The MPs added they had all “privately expressed our anguish and dismay at the position taken by His Majesty’s government following the terrible atrocities of 7 October”.

“We said we did not believe it was in the United Kingdom’s or Israel’s best long-term interests for them to flatten Gaza and massacre innocent Palestinians in pursuit of Hamas, nor that there was a viable military solution to dealing with such a terrorist organisation and to securing the urgent return of Israeli hostages,” they wrote.

The letter added: “On the contrary, the brutalisation of the civilian Palestinian population is sure to lead to more extremism in the future.

“Furthermore, it is increasingly clear that the Israeli military strategy is neither proportionate nor targeted and that there is no serious prospect of success, whatever that might mean.”

Politics

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

Published

3 hours ago

April 4, 2025

admin

'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.

Politics latest: Could the UK retaliate against Trump?

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 👈

Politics

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

Published

6 hours ago

April 4, 2025

admin

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.

Magazine: Meet lawyer Max Burwick — ‘The ambulance chaser of crypto’

Politics

Trump tariffs squeeze already struggling Bitcoin miners — Braiins exec

Published

13 hours ago

April 4, 2025

admin

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.

Magazine: Bitcoin ATH sooner than expected? XRP may drop 40%, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 23 – 29