More than 100 MPs earn over £10,000 a year as landlords

Published

1 year ago

April 24, 2024

admin

More than 100 MPs have earned over £10,000 a year as landlords over the course of this parliament, research from Sky News has found.

A total of 83 Tories have declared they received the sizeable rental payments since the last election in December 2019, along with 18 Labour MPs, four Liberal Democrats and one member of the SNP.

But many more could be benefiting from a smaller income as landlords, as MPs only have to publish it on the register of interests if rent tops the £10,000 annual figure.

The numbers come as the long-awaited Renters’ Reform Bill returns to the Commons on Wednesday, with campaigners demanding stronger action to make the market fairer for those renting their homes.

The majority of the MPs found in Sky News’ research were landlords of residential properties – with 104 of them having a stake in over 217 homes.

But 12 also let out commercial properties, 12 make an income from renting their farms, and one even leases a fishery.

A total of seven cabinet members made the list, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt clocking up the largest portfolio – seven flats in Southampton, 50% of a holiday home in Italy and 50% of an office building in London.

Three shadow cabinet members also have the additional income – though no more than the single property owned by shadow foreign secretary David Lammy in Tottenham, London.

Vested interest of landlords

However, the MP with the biggest list of rental incomes was the Conservative member for Sedgefield, Paul Howell, who lists two flats in County Durham, five houses in Durham, nine houses in Darlington and an apartment in Spain on his register of interests.

None of this breaks any rules for MPs, as long as they declare their interests.

However, the statistics come as a row rolls on between the government and campaigners over the influence of landlords on the Renters’ Reform Bill.

Research exclusively shared with Sky News last week showed almost one million private renters had been served a Section 21 since the Conservatives first promised to ban them in April 2019.

Yet, the government agreed to an indefinite delay to outlawing the mechanism, reportedly after a group of Conservative backbenchers – including some landlords – raised concerns the courts were not prepared for the legal cases that could replace them.

‘Colossal failure’

The chief executive of homelessness charity Shelter, Polly Neate said the legislation would be a “colossal failure” without the scrapping of no fault evictions at its heart.

“Tenants campaigned tirelessly to get this bill on the table, but this government has proven that renters’ safety and security is less important to it than bowing to the self-interests of a minority of landlord backbenchers,” she added.

“While ministers run scared of a few dozen of their own MPs, more than 500 private renters are slapped with a no-fault eviction notice every day.”

Speaking to broadcasters ahead of the legislation returning to parliament, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove could not guarantee Section 21s would be banned before the next election – which has to take place by January 2025.

He insisted his “determination” to end them was “iron clad”, but it would depend on opposition parties and the House of Lords supporting the whole bill.

“It’s important to stress that the overwhelming majority of landlords are providing a very valuable service,” said Mr Gove.

He added: “It’s vitally important that after 30 years without legislation to improve the private rented sector, and with the private rented sector constituting nearly a fifth of housing overall, that we do ensure that it works effectively.

“And it’s not about pitting landlord against tenant, nor is it about demonising MPs of all parties. It’s about making sure that we have the balanced package that makes sure the private rented sector works for everyone.”

Bill ‘abolishes Section 21s in name only’

However, a spokesperson for campaign group Generation Rent told Sky News: “Efforts to maintain landlords’ power in the bill will undermine improvements that would benefit renters and ultimately improve the reputation of the sector.”

The Renters Reform Coalition, made up of 20 charities, also warned that, as the bill stood, it “abolishes Section 21s in name only”.

They added: “This legislation is intended to give the impression of improving conditions for renters, but in fact it preserves the central power imbalance at the root of why renting in England is in crisis.”

But the chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, Ben Beadle, supported the bill, saying it provided stability for both landlords and tenants, and would keep rental homes in the market.

“Greater security for tenants will mean nothing if the rental homes are not there in the first place,” he added.

Sky News contacted the Conservatives, Labour and the three MPs named in the piece, but did not receive a response.

A Lib Dem spokesperson said: “Time and time again the Conservatives have failed renters and acted against people’s interests.

“Lib Dem MPs in parliament have long fought for renters’ rights and will continue to do so.”

Politics

Bitcoin treasury firms driving $200T hyperbitcoinization — Adam Back

Published

7 hours ago

April 27, 2025

admin

Bitcoin treasury firms driving 0T hyperbitcoinization — Adam Back

Investment firms with Bitcoin-focused treasuries are front-running global Bitcoin adoption, which may see the world’s first cryptocurrency soar to a $200 trillion market capitalization in the coming decade.

Institutions and governments worldwide are starting to recognize the unique monetary properties of Bitcoin (BTC), according to Adam Back, co-founder and CEO of Blockstream and the inventor of Hashcash.

“$MSTR and other treasury companies are an arbitrage of the dislocation between the bitcoin future and todays fiat world,” Back wrote in an April 26 X post.

“A sustainable and scalable $100-$200 trillion trade front-running hyperbitcoinization. scalable enough for most big listed companies to move to btc treasury,” he added.

Hyperbitcoinization refers to the theoretical future where Bitcoin soars to become the largest global currency, replacing fiat money due to its inflationary economics and growing distrust in the legacy financial system.

Bitcoin treasury firms driving $200T hyperbitcoinization — Adam Back — *Source:* *Adam Back*

Bitcoin’s price outpacing fiat money inflation remains the main driver of global hyperbitcoinization, Back said, adding:

“Some people think treasury strategy is a temporary glitch. i’m saying no it’s a logical and sustainable arbitrage. but not for ever, the driver is bitcoin price going up over 4 year periods faster than interest and inflation.”

Back’s comments come nearly two months after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to establish a national Bitcoin reserve from BTC forfeited in government criminal cases.

Global firms continue Bitcoin accumulation

Continued Bitcoin investments from the likes of Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, may inspire more global firms to follow suit.

Strategy’s approach is proving to be lucrative, with the firm’s Bitcoin treasury generating over $5.1 billion worth of profit since the beginning of 2025, according to Strategy’s co-founder, Michael Saylor.

Japanese investment firm Metaplanet, also known as “Asia’s MicroStrategy,” adopted a similar strategy, since surpassing 5,000 BTC in total holdings on April 24, Cointelegraph reported.

As Asia’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder, Metaplanet plans to acquire 21,000 BTC by 2026.

US financial institutions may also have more confidence in adopting Bitcoin after the US Federal Reserve withdrew its 2022 guidance discouraging banks from engaging with cryptocurrency. “Banks are now free to begin supporting Bitcoin,” Saylor said in response to the guidance withdrawal.

“Banks will now be supervised through normal processes, signaling a more open regulatory environment for digital asset integration,” Nexo dispatch analyst Iliya Kalchev told Cointelegraph.

Magazine: Altcoin season to hit in Q2? Mantra’s plan to win trust: Hodler’s Digest, April 13 – 19

Politics

US crypto rules like ‘floor is lava’ game without lights — Hester Peirce

Published

13 hours ago

April 27, 2025

admin

<div>US crypto rules like 'floor is lava' game without lights — Hester Peirce</div>

SEC Commissioner and head of the crypto task force, Hester Peirce, says US financial firms are navigating crypto in a way that’s similar to playing the children’s game “the floor is lava,” but in the dark.

“It is time that we find a way to end this game. We need to turn on the lights and build some walkways over the lava pit,” Peirce said at the SEC “Know Your Custodian” roundtable event on April 25.

The lava is crypto, says Peirce

Peirce explained that SEC registrants are forced to approach crypto-related activities like “the floor is lava,” where the aim is to jump from one piece of furniture to the next without touching the ground, except here, touching crypto directly is the lava.

“A D.C. version of this game is our regulatory approach to crypto assets, and crypto asset custody in particular,” she said.

Peirce said that, much like in the game, firms wanting to engage with crypto must avoid directly holding it due to unclear regulatory rules. “To engage in crypto-related activities, SEC-registrants have had to hop from one poorly illuminated regulatory space to the next, all while ensuring that they never touch any crypto asset,” Peirce said.

Cryptocurrencies, SEC, United States — *Source:* *US Securities and Exchange Commission*

Peirce said that investment advisers are often unsure which crypto assets qualify as securities, what entities count as qualified custodians, and whether “exercising staking or voting rights” could trigger custody violations.

“The twist in the regulatory version is that it is largely played in the dark: burning legal lava and no lamps to illuminate the way.”

Peirce also said that a broker or ATS that cannot custody or manage crypto assets will struggle to facilitate trading, making it unlikely for a “robust market” to develop.

Echoing a similar sentiment, SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda said at the event that as more SEC registrants work with crypto assets, it’s essential that they have access to custodial options that meet legal and regulatory requirements.

Uyeda said the agency should consider letting advisers use “state-chartered limited-purpose trust companies” with the authority to hold crypto assets as qualified custodians.

Meanwhile, the recently sworn-in chair of the SEC, Paul Atkins, said that he expected “huge benefits” from blockchain technology through efficiency, risk mitigation, transparency, and cutting costs.

He reiterated that among his goals at the SEC would be to facilitate “clear regulatory rules of the road” for digital assets, hinting that the agency under former chair Gary Gensler had contributed to market and regulatory uncertainty.

“I look forward to engaging with market participants and working with colleagues in President Trump’s administration and Congress to establish a rational fit-for-purpose framework for crypto assets,” said Atkins.

Magazine: Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF’s mysterious prison move: Hodler’s Digest, April 19 – 25

Politics

Labour and Reform in battle for Runcorn by-election seat – but disillusionment could be eventual winner

Published

15 hours ago

April 27, 2025

admin

Labour and Reform in battle for Runcorn by-election seat - but disillusionment could be eventual winner

On the banks of the Mersey, Runcorn and Helsby is a more complicated political picture than the apparent Labour heartland that first presents itself.

Yes, there are industrial and manufacturing areas – an old town that’s fallen victim to out-of-town shopping, and an out-of-town shopping centre that’s fallen victim to Amazon.

But there are also more middle-class new town developments, as well as Tory-facing rural swathes.

One thing this area does mirror with many across the country, though, is a fed-up electorate with little confidence that politics can work for them.

In the Space Cafe in Runcorn Old Town, its director Marie Moss says many in the region remember a time when a sense of community was more acute.

“People were very proud of their town… and that’s why people get upset and emotional as they remember that,” she says.

It’s this feeling of disenfranchisement and nostalgia-tinged yearning for the past that Reform UK is trading off in its targeting of traditional Labour voters here.

Party leader Nigel Farage features heavily on leaflets in these parts, alongside spikey messaging around migration, law and order, and Labour’s record in government so far.

Taxi driver Mike Holland hears frequent worries about that record from those riding in the back of his cab.

A Labour voter for decades, he says locals were “made up” at last year’s election result but have been “astonished” since then, with benefit changes a common topic of concern.

“Getting a taxi is two things, it’s either a luxury or a necessity… the necessity people are the disabled people… and a lot of the old dears are so stressed and worried about their disability allowance and whether they are going to get it or not get it,” he says.

But will that mean straight switchers to Reform UK?

Mike says he agrees with some of what the party is offering but thinks a lot of people are put off by Mr Farage.

He’s now looking at the Liberal Democrats and Greens, both of whom have put up local politicians as candidates.

Or, Mike says, he may just not vote at all.

It’s in places like Runcorn town that some of the political contradictions within Reform UK reveal themselves more clearly.

Many here say they were brought up being told to never vote Tory.

And yet, Reform, chasing their support, has chosen a former Conservative councillor as its candidate.

It’s no surprise Labour has been trialling attack lines in this campaign, painting Mr Farage’s party as “failed Tories”.

As a response to this, look no further than Reform’s recent nod to the left on industrialisation and public ownership.

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

But head 15 minutes south from Runcorn docks, and this by-election campaign changes.

Rural areas like Frodsham and Helsby have, in the past, tended towards the Tories.

The Conservatives, of course, have a candidate in this vote, one who stood in a neighbouring constituency last year.

But Reform is now making a hard play for their supporters in these parts, with a softer message compared to the one being put out in urban areas – an attempt to reassure those anxious about too much political revolution coming to their privet-lined streets.

Labour, meanwhile, is actively trying to mobilise the anti-Farage vote by presenting their candidate – another local councillor – as the only person who can stop Reform.

The pitch here is aimed at voters like Frodsham makeup artist Nadine Tan, who are worried about division and anger in the community.

“I think they need to kind of come together and stop trying to divide everyone,” she says.

But like Mike the taxi driver five miles north, disillusionment could be the eventual winner as Nadine says, despite the “thousands of leaflets” through her door, she still thinks “they all say the same thing”.

One factor that doesn’t seem to be swinging too many votes, though, is the insalubrious circumstances in which the area’s former Labour MP left office.

Mike Amesbury stepped down after being convicted of repeatedly punching a constituent in a late-night brawl outside a pub.

But across the patch, many praise their ex-MP’s local efforts, while also saying he was “very silly” to have acted in the way he did.

That may be putting it mildly.

But it’s hard to find much more agreement ahead of Thursday’s vote.

A constituency still hungry for change, but unsure as to who can deliver it.

Full list of candidates, Runcorn and Helsby by-election:

Catherine Anne Blaiklock – English Democrats
Dan Clarke – Liberal Party
Chris Copeman – Green Party
Paul Duffy – Liberal Democrats
Peter Ford – Workers Party
Howling Laud Hope – Monster Raving Loony Party
Sean Houlston – Conservatives
Jason Philip Hughes – Volt UK
Alan McKie – Independent
Graham Harry Moore – English Constitution Party
Paul Andrew Murphy – Social Democratic Party
Sarah Pochin – Reform UK
Karen Shore – Labour
John Stevens – Rejoin EU
Michael Williams – Independent