Labour says Rishi Sunak should admit Rwanda plan doubts after leaks suggest he thought deterrent ‘won’t work’

Published

1 year ago

January 6, 2024

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Labour says Rishi Sunak should be “honest” with the public by publishing documents which appear to show he had doubts about the Rwanda scheme to stop small boats from crossing the Channel.

Documents seen by Sky News suggest the prime minister was sceptical about government plans to send illegal migrants to the African country.

Mr Sunak expressed his doubts while he was chancellor in March 2022, shortly before the Rwanda scheme was first announced by Boris Johnson’s government.

The existence of the Number 10 briefing papers was widely reported on Saturday.

Now the Labour Party is urging Mr Sunak to “come clean”.

Watch Wilfred Frost’s live interview with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on the Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips show on Sky News from 8.30am on Sunday.

Analysis:
PM facing same old problems after trying to go on offensive

The papers revealed this weekend suggest the now prime minister had particular concerns about the costs of the scheme.

It has since been made public that the government has committed at least £400m to the Rwandan government, despite not a single person being removed to Rwanda.

The papers also appear to show Mr Sunak doubted the effectiveness of his now flagship policy, saying the then chancellor believed the “deterrent won’t work”.

A government source said Mr Sunak has put the Rwanda policy at the heart of his plan for government, and as chancellor, funded the scheme.

The government’s Rwanda Bill will return to the House of Commons this month.

Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said: “The more we hear about the government’s Rwanda scheme, the more obvious it becomes that this is an extortionate con that won’t fix the Tory chaos in our immigration system.

“The home secretary, the former immigration minister and now the prime minister clearly don’t believe the government’s plans will work.

“It’s time the Tory government was honest with the public, and publish both the papers outlining Rishi Sunak’s concerns and the full details of the cost of the scheme.

“In a few weeks’ time, the prime minister will ask his divided and sceptical backbench MPs to vote for a Rwanda scheme he clearly doesn’t believe in and which he refuses to set out the costs for.

“They should stop wasting time on this costly charade and adopt Labour’s plan to go after the criminal smuggling gangs, negotiating new security arrangements with Europe to better protect our borders and set up a new returns unit to ensure those with no right to be in the UK are swiftly removed.”

After the reports about Mr Sunak’s doubts on Saturday, a government source said: “As chancellor, Rishi funded the Rwanda scheme and put it at the heart of his 10-point plan the month after becoming PM.

“Now he is passing the Rwanda Bill following the Supreme Court judgment to get flights off the ground.

“He is the first prime minister ever to oversee a reduction in small boat crossings, which were down by 36% last year.”

Politics

Rupert Lowe says Reform leader Nigel Farage ‘must never be PM’ in latest attack amid leaks of claimed WhatsApp messages

Published

19 mins ago

March 20, 2025

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Rupert Lowe says Reform leader Nigel Farage 'must never be PM' in latest attack amid leaks of claimed WhatsApp messages

Ousted Reform MP Rupert Lowe has said Nigel Farage must “never be prime minister” after leaked messages came to light reigniting the party’s internal row.

Mr Lowe, now the independent MP for Great Yarmouth, launched his latest attack on Reform’s “rotten and deceitful” leadership after a private WhatsApp conversation between Mr Farage and a party activist was leaked to the BBC.

In the messages, Mr Farage is alleged to have called Mr Lowe “disgusting” and “contemptible” after he gave an interview to the Daily Mail that was critical of his leadership.

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He also allegedly claimed that Mr Lowe’s motivation for the interview was “damaging the party just before elections – disgusting”.

In a post on social media, Mr Lowe said the alleged leaked messages “prove that he [Mr Farage] kicked me out of the party and launched this malicious witch hunt because I dared to ask reasonable questions of Reform”.

“His visceral hatred of me is evident, particularly following the Daily Mail interview,” Mr Lowe continued.

“Farage has admitted himself, in writing, that the motivation behind my removal was the Daily Mail interview, in
which I raised reasonable and constructive questions of Reform structure, policy and communication – following
months of pushing for change behind the scenes.

“That interview is why they designed and launched their horrific smear campaign against my name. It is evil behaviour.

“Nigel Farage must never be prime minister. All I have done is tell the truth, and I will continue to do so.”

The row erupted after Mr Lowe’s interview with the Daily Mail, in which Mr Lowe said it was “too early to know” if Mr Farage will become prime minister and warned Reform remains a “protest party led by the Messiah” under the Clacton MP.

He also claimed that he was “barely six months into being an MP” himself and “in the betting to be the next prime minister”.

Reform UK then announced that it had referred the Great Yarmouth MP to police and suspended him, alleging he made “verbal threats” against chairman Zia Yousaf.

The Met has launched an investigation into these claims, which Mr Lowe has vehemently denied.

Reform has also claimed it has received complaints from two female employees about serious bullying in Mr Lowe’s constituency office – which the MP has also strenuously denied, saying they do not relate to him and were made by staff who themselves faced disciplinary action.

On the allegations against the employees in his constituency office, Mr Lowe said he would “not be engaging” with the Reform “investigation”, arguing they were “blatantly vexatious complaints” made by former employees who themselves “admitted serious offences” and were subject to disciplinary processes.

“There is no credible evidence of any ‘bullying’ by anybody, because there was none,” he wrote in his social media post. “This has been weaponised in a desperate attempt to smear my name.”

He added: “If am contacted by the independent parliamentary authorities, I will fully cooperate with them. I have heard nothing from any relevant parliamentary body, nor have my team”.

Last week Sky News reported that Mr Lowe is consulting lawyers about taking possible libel action against Reform UK, for making “untrue and false allegations” about him.

Mr Lowe, the former chair of Southampton Football Club, has not ruled out joining the Conservatives or another political party.

Mr Farage has said there is “no way back” for the suspended MP and has accused him of being “out to cause maximum damage” to Reform UK.

Sky News has approached Mr Farage for comment.

Politics

SEC says proof-of-work mining does not constitute securities dealing

Published

2 hours ago

March 20, 2025

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SEC says proof-of-work mining does not constitute securities dealing

The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance has clarified its views on proof-of-work mining, arguing that such activities do not constitute “the offer and sale of securities” as outlined in the Securities Act of 1933, so long as they meet certain criteria.

In a March 20 statement, the SEC division addressed the “mining of crypto assets that are intrinsically linked to the programmatic functioning of a public, permissionless network” and determined that decentralized PoW networks should not be treated as securities.

Although the SEC’s statement did not name any specific blockchain, its views on certain PoW activities apply to permissionless networks where mining is used to participate in the consensus mechanism. The statement applies to solo miners and mining pools participating in such networks.

Security, SEC, Proof-of-Work — *The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance gives its view on PoW “protocol mining activities.” Source:* *SEC*

Although Bitcoin (BTC) is by far the largest and most significant PoW chain, there are several others, including Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC) and Monero (XMR). US regulators have long considered Bitcoin to be a commodity and not a security — a view that also extends to Litecoin and Dogecoin, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

A pro-crypto policy tailwind

Digital asset markets, including PoW chains, are set to flourish under US President Donald Trump, who has vowed to make America the world’s blockchain and crypto capital.

In addition to appointing a pro-crypto replacement to Gary Gensler at the SEC, the president has established the Council of Advisers on Digital Assets to advance common-sense regulations for the industry.

On March 19, the council’s executive director, Bo Hines, revealed that a comprehensive stablecoin bill could land on the president’s desk in a matter of months.

The same day, the Blockchain Association, an industry advocacy group, said a cryptocurrency market structure bill is expected by the summer.

“I think we’re close to being able to get those done for August […] They’re doing a lot of work on that behind the scenes right now,” said Kristin Smith, the Blockchain Association’s CEO.

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Politics

ZachXBT says he unmasked mysterious 50x Hyperliquid whale

Published

3 hours ago

March 20, 2025

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ZachXBT says he unmasked mysterious 50x Hyperliquid whale

Onchain sleuth ZachXBT said he had identified the mysterious whale who profited $20 million from highly leveraged trades on Hyperliquid and GMX as a British hacker going by the name William Parker.

According to ZachXBT’s March 20 X post, Parker — who was previously known as Alistair Packover before changing his name — was arrested last year for allegedly stealing around $1 million from two casinos in 2023.

Parker also made headlines a decade ago for allegations of hacking and gambling, ZachXBT said.

“It is abundantly clear WP/AP has not learned his lesson over the years after serving time for fraud and will likely continue gambling,” ZachXBT said.

ZachXBT said his findings are based on a phone number provided by a person who allegedly received a payment from the whale trader’s wallet address.

He also said that public wallet addresses associated with the whale trader received proceeds from past onchain phishing schemes.

Cointelegraph has not independently verified ZachXBT’s claims.

Massive leveraged bets

The mysterious whale rose to prominence after profiting approximately $20 million from highly leveraged trades — in some cases with up to 50x leverage — on decentralized perpetuals exchanges Hyperliquid and GMX.

On March 12, the trader intentionally liquidated an approximately $200 million Ether (ETH) long, causing Hyperliquid’s liquidity pool to lose $4 million.

Meanwhile, the whale earned profits of some $1.8 million.

Hyperliquid said the liquidation was not an exploit but rather a predictable consequence of how the trading platform operates under extreme conditions. The DEX later revised its collateral rules for traders with open positions to guard against such occurrences in the future.

On March 14, the whale took another multimillion-long position, this time on Chainlink (LINK).

Perpetual futures, or “perps,” are leveraged futures contracts with no expiry date. Traders deposit margin collateral — typically USDC (USDC) for Hyperliquid — to secure open positions.

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