October election? This was no slip of the tongue from Jeremy Hunt
What was Jeremy Hunt up to?
Was he aiming to snatch the headlines from his Labour rival Rachel Reeves on the evening of her weighty and well-trailed lecture on the economy?
Almost certainly.
Was he also aiming to tease Labour MPs about an October election when he and the prime minister are really planning for November?
Quite possibly.
Was he trying to calm Tory MPs’ jitters worried about a June or July election after Rishi Sunak ruled out 2 May?
No doubt.
And was he hoping to reassure his backbenchers that he and the PM have a credible economic strategy – “sticking to the plan” – including falling inflation and lower interest rates?
Of course.
Politics live: Chancellor appears to let slip when election might be
Mr Hunt’s tantalising “if the general election is in October” aside to the House of Lords’ economic affairs committee was surely no accident. No way was it a slip of the tongue.
The 14 peers who sit on their lordships’ equivalent of the Treasury select committee in the Commons include some wise and experienced old timers: an ex-chancellor and two former Treasury mandarins.
Okay, so Norman Lamont’s record as John Major’s chancellor from 1990 to 1993 was hardly an unmitigated triumph. Remember Black Wednesday?
But Terry Burns was a distinguished chief economic adviser and permanent secretary at the Treasury in the Thatcher, Major and early Blair and Brown period.
And Andrew Turnbull, the mandarin’s mandarin, was also Treasury permanent secretary under Mr Brown and then Sir Tony’s cabinet secretary.
So Mr Hunt knew exactly what he was doing.
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Hunt hints at October election
Apart from the soap opera of Tory plots against the PM, the date of the general election is all MPs are talking about and parliament’s constant guessing game at present.
On 7 March, the day after his budget that dismayed Tory backbenchers, the chancellor told Kay Burley on Sky News the “working assumption” was that the election would be in the autumn.
That was after the PM said his “working assumption” was that it would take place in the second half of the year.
Now, the PM and the chancellor appear to be narrowing it down.
But if it is to be October, when exactly?
Listen to Beth Rigby, Jess Phillips and Ruth Davidson as they unravel the spin in a new weekly podcast from Sky News
Mr Hunt told their lordships an election in October would make it “very, very tight” to fit in a spending review.
That, along with the expectation that he’ll deliver a tax-cutting pre-election budget in September – fulfilling Mr Sunak’s pledge to cut the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 19p before the election – suggests the second half of the month.
Forget Thursday 31 October. What prime minister is going to risk “nightmare on Halloween” headlines? Not even the accident-prone Mr Sunak, surely?
We can also rule out the previous Thursday, 24 October, which clashes with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa, requiring the presence of both King Charles and whoever is PM then.
Which leaves, realistically, 10 or 17 October. And the current betting at Westminster is that if it is October, then the 17th is favourite.
Mr Hunt has presumably known that for some time. Even if his prime motive at the Lords committee was indeed to snatch the evening headlines from Ms Reeves.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has warned that crypto will increasingly threaten traditional financial markets’ stability as the industry grows and becomes more entwined with traditional finance players.
“We cannot rule out that future sharp drops in crypto prices could have knock-on effects on our financial system,” ESMA’s executive director Natasha Cazenave said in an April 8 statement to the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.
Cazenave noted, however, that crypto currently only accounts for 1% of global financial assets and is not yet significant enough to cause major “spillover effects” into traditional financial markets.
She warned that interconnections between crypto and traditional markets are rapidly growing — particularly in the more crypto-friendly US — and called for closer monitoring.
“Crypto-assets markets evolve quickly, in an often unpredictable manner, and we need to keep a close eye on these developments,” Cazenave said, adding:
“Turmoil, even in small markets, can originate or catalyze broader stability issues in our financial system.”
Cazenave’s concerns ranged from spot crypto exchange-traded funds and stablecoin use to hacks, scams and scandals — highlighting the recent $1.4 billion Bybit exploit and FTX’s collapse in November 2022.
Today in the ECON Committee, the role of crypto assets in relation to financial market stability was discussed. The European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) were present.
I raised a critical question about the digital euro.… pic.twitter.com/KST7FRBhFF
— Engin Eroglu (@EnginEroglu_FW) April 8, 2025
The European Union has already implemented several measures to safeguard against crypto risks, most notably the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation that was rolled out last year.
While Cazenave said MiCA marked a “breakthrough” for crypto regulation, she added that there is “no such thing as a safe crypto-asset” and that more rules may need to be implemented to mitigate future risks.
Related: EU could fine Elon Musk’s X $1B over illicit content, disinformation
Her comments come as both crypto and the stock markets have experienced double-digit falls over the last few weeks as the Trump administration continues to follow through on its tariff plans.
Europe lags US in crypto adoption
While crypto adoption has accelerated in the US, Cazenave noted that over 95% of European banks remain on the sidelines, with no involvement in crypto-related activities.
However, retail participation is on the rise, with an estimated 10% to 20% of European investors having crypto exposure, which is in line with growing global interest, Cazenave said.
Most reports measuring US crypto adoption suggest that the range of adoption is between 15% and 28% of the population.
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Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal has been granted final court approval to settle a class-action lawsuit for $11 million with Astrals non-fungible token (NFT) buyers.
Florida federal court judge Federico Moreno granted approval of the settlement between O’Neal and the class group led by Daniel Harper in an April 1 order made available on April 8.
The deal created a fund of up to $11 million for eligible class members and awarded $2.9 million in attorney fees and costs. All those who purchased Astrals NFTs from May 2022 to Jan. 15 and those who purchased the project’s native GLXY tokens up until mid-January are eligible.
“The fee sought by lead class counsel has been reviewed and approved as fair and reasonable by plaintiffs,” Moreno’s order read.
O’Neal was hit with the lawsuit in May 2023 over his founding and promotion of the Solana-based Astrals NFT project, which the suit claimed was an “offer and sale of unregistered securities.”
The class group said they bought Astrals NFTs and “suffered investment losses” due to O’Neal’s “conduct” in promoting the project.
In August, Judge Moreno recognized that the class suit had alleged that the former NBA player was a seller of the NFTs. O’Neal agreed to the settlement in November.
Screenshot from court order on final settlement. Source: Courtlistener
NFT sales slump
The Astrals NFT collection consisted of 10,000 unique 3D digital collectibles created in April 2022 by the artist Damien Guimoneau in a Solana-based project that promoted a virtual world where users could socialize and play with others, including the basketball star.
Related: NFT sales plunge 63% in Q1, but Pudgy Penguins, Doodles buck trend
There has been no activity or sales from the collection for the past two years, according to NFT marketplace OpenSea.
Overall, NFT sales are still in deep bear market territory, with just $27 million sold as of April 7, down from more than $2 billion per week at the end of 2021, according to CryptoSlam.
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