Beth Rigby: Rishi Sunak starts the year with a pretty flimsy argument – and time not on his side

Published

1 year ago

January 8, 2024

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Rishi Sunak kicked off the election year trying to sell to voters that his five pledges were on track, and they should vote for him to finish the job rather than “going back to square one”.

But look at his record, and it’s a pretty flimsy argument:

• NHS waiting lists are almost 500,000 higher than in January 2023;

• Boat crossings stood at just under 30,000 people in 2023, with 28,000 making the journey;

• National debt rose to 88.3% of GDP from 85.1% in December 2022. A promise he has delivered is halving inflation – although it’s true real household disposable income has continued to fall – while the economy looks on track to grow.

When he made those pledges, Mr Sunak told his audience “people don’t want politicians who promise the Earth and fail to deliver”.

But when it comes to the two key election issues beyond the economy – NHS waiting lists and stopping the boats – that is exactly where he looks like landing this side of an election.

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A good number of his own MPs are fearful that failing to tackle illegal migration in particular will cost them their seats.

That’s why the furore over whether the PM tried to water down the Rwanda scheme when he was chancellor matters.

As my colleague Rob Powell reported over the weekend, the leaked documents he saw showing the PM had doubts about the scheme when chancellor back in March 2002 raise concerns among MPs that his heart isn’t really in it.

That for all the rhetoric, this is a PM who isn’t really willing to do “whatever it takes” to put the policy into action.

Meanwhile, today I have been told by a Sunak campaign insider that when the PM was running to be Conservative leader in July 2022, he “wanted to scrap the scheme” and had “no serious interest” in illegal or legal migration “until he was persuaded otherwise during the campaign”.

When asked about this on a trip to the marginal seat of Hyndburn in Lancashire, the prime minister was prickly, saying it was “completely false” to suggest he had said during that leadership bid he was “going to scrap it”.

The eagle-eyed among you will note that what the PM denied was that he said he was going to scrap it, not that he wanted to.

And that matters, because it speaks to his commitment to getting Rwanda off the ground amid deep, irreconcilable divisions in his party over how far he should go to succeed.

For voters, it perhaps also leaves a bad taste in the mouth that this is a prime minister who isn’t really straight with them – not only when it comes to make big pledges and following them through, but about what he stands for as a PM.

He likes to call Sir Keir Starmer a flip-flopper who plays politics, but his approach to Rwanda suggests he perhaps does the same.

What Mr Sunak would say in reply is he is pushing ahead with the Rwanda bill and getting boat crossings down. He would probably ask people to judge him on his actions not words.

So far, the judgment on his first 15 months in the job has been dire, with the polls failing to budge whatever he does.

He will hope if his economic pledges come good, voters will follow. But he doesn’t have much time left to turn the tide.

Politics

US court pauses 18-state lawsuit against SEC after agency’s leadership change

Published

6 hours ago

April 17, 2025

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US court pauses 18-state lawsuit against SEC after agency’s leadership change

A US federal judge has agreed to pause a lawsuit filed by 18 state attorneys general and the crypto lobby group DeFi Education Fund against the Securities and Exchange Commission after all parties said new SEC leadership could make the action moot.

Kentucky District Court Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove ordered a 60-day stay on the case on April 16, noting a mid-March filing from the SEC that “this case could potentially be resolved” due to a leadership transition at the regulator.

He added that the parties must file a joint status report within 30 days.

Paul Atkins, a Wall Street adviser who has held board positions with crypto advocacy groups, was sworn in as the new SEC chair earlier this month, replacing acting chair Mark Uyeda and taking over from Gary Gensler.

The 18 attorneys general, all hailing from Republican states, filed the lawsuit with the DeFi Education Fund against the securities regulator in November, alleging that the SEC exceeded its authority when targeting crypto exchanges with lawsuits, accusing the regulator and then-chair Gensler of “gross government overreach.”

The plaintiffs included attorneys general from Nebraska, Tennessee, Wyoming, Kentucky, West Virginia, Iowa, Texas, Mississippi, Ohio, Montana, Indiana, Oklahoma and Florida, among others.

“Without Congressional authorization, the SEC has sought to unilaterally wrest regulatory authority away from the States through an ongoing series of enforcement actions,” the lawsuit stated.

DeFi groups drop case against IRS over killed broker rule

Meanwhile, the DeFi Education Fund, Blockchain Association, and Texas Blockchain Council dropped their lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service on April 16.

“The parties hereby stipulate to voluntary dismissal of this action without prejudice because the case has become moot,” stated the filing.

The lawsuit, filed in December, argued that the so-called IRS DeFi broker rule went beyond the agency’s authority and was unconstitutional.

On April 11, President Donald Trump signed a bill to revoke the rule that would have required DeFi protocols to report transactions to the IRS.

It comes as the SEC has paused or dropped several high-profile lawsuits against crypto companies this year under its new leadership.

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Politics

Panama’s capital to accept crypto for taxes, municipal fees

Published

14 hours ago

April 16, 2025

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<div>Panama's capital to accept crypto for taxes, municipal fees</div>

Panama’s capital city will accept cryptocurrency payments for taxes and municipal fees, including bus tickets and permits, Panama City mayor Mayer Mizrachi announced on April 15, joining a growing list of jurisdictions globally that have voted to accept such payments.

Panama City will begin accepting Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Circle’s USDC (USDC), and Tether’s USDt (USDT) stablecoin for payment once the crypto-to-fiat payment rails are established, Mizrachi posted on the X platform.

Mizrachi said previous administrations attempted to push through similar legislation but failed to overcome stipulations requiring the local government to accept funds denominated in US dollars.

In a translated statement, the Panama City mayor said that the local government partnered with a bank that will immediately convert any digital assets received into US dollars, allowing the municipality to accept crypto without introducing new legislation.

Panama City joins a growing list of global jurisdictions on the municipal and state level accepting cryptocurrency payments for taxes, exploring Bitcoin strategic reserves to protect public treasuries from inflation and passing pro-crypto policies to attract investment.

Taxes, Panama, Bitcoin Adoption — *Source:* *Mayer Mizrachi*

Municipalities and states embrace digital assets

Several municipalities and territories around the globe already accept crypto for tax payments or are exploring various implementations of blockchain technology for government spending.

The US state of Colorado started accepting crypto payments for taxes in September 2022. Much like Panama City said it will do, Colorado immediately converts the crypto to fiat.

In December 2023, the city of Lugano, Switzerland, announced taxes and city fees could be paid in Bitcoin, which was one of the developments that earned it the reputation of being a globally recognized Bitcoin city.

The city council of Vancouver, Canada, passed a motion to become “Bitcoin-friendly city” in December 2024. As part of that motion, the Vancouver local government will explore integrating BTC into the financial system, including tax payments.

North Carolina lawmaker Neal Jackson introduced legislation titled “The North Carolina Digital Asset Freedom Act” on April 10. If passed, the bill will recognize cryptocurrencies as an official form of payment that can be used to pay taxes.

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Politics

Fed’s Powell reasserts support for stablecoin legislation

Published

16 hours ago

April 16, 2025

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<div>Fed's Powell reasserts support for stablecoin legislation</div>

As digital assets gain mainstream adoption, establishing a legal framework for stablecoins is a “good idea,” said US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

In an April 16 panel at the Economic Club of Chicago, Powell commented on the evolution of the cryptocurrency industry, which has delivered a consumer use case that “could have wide appeal” following a difficult “wave of failures and frauds,” he said.

Fed's Powell reasserts support for stablecoin legislation

Powell delivers remarks at the Economic Club of Chicago. Source: Bloomberg Television

During crypto’s difficult years, which culminated in 2022 and 2023 with several high-profile business failures, the Fed “worked with Congress to try to get a […] legal framework for stablecoins, which would have been a nice place to start,” said Powell. “We were not successful.”

“I think that the climate is changing and you’re moving into more mainstreaming of that whole sector, so Congress is again looking […] at a legal framework for stablecoins,” he said.

“Depending on what’s in it, that’s a good idea. We need that. There isn’t one now,” said Powell.

This isn’t the first time Powell acknowledged the need for stablecoin legislation. In June 2023, the Fed boss told the House Financial Services Committee that stablecoins were “a form of money” that requires “robust” federal oversight.

Support for stablecoin legislation is growing

The election of US President Donald Trump has ushered in a new era of pro-crypto appointments and policy shifts that could make America a digital asset superpower.

Washington’s formal embrace of cryptocurrency began earlier this year when Trump established the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, with Bo Hines as the executive director.

Hines told a digital asset summit in New York last month that a comprehensive stablecoin bill was a top priority for the current administration. After the Senate Banking Committee passed the GENIUS Act, a final stablecoin bill could arrive at the president’s desk “in the next two months,” said Hines.

Bo Hines (right) speaks of “imminent” stablecoin legislation at the Digital Asset Summit on March 18. Source: Cointelegraph

Stablecoins pegged to the US dollar are by far the most popular tokens used for remittances and cryptocurrency trading.

The combined value of all stablecoins is currently $227 billion, according to RWA.xyz. The dollar-pegged USDC (USDC) and USDt (USDT) account for more than 88% of the total market.

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