Target Towns: Voters in Grimsby have their say on Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge
Voters in Grimsby – one of Sky News’s election Target Towns – have been offering their views on politics, politicians and “broken promises”.
The electoral battle in Grimsby and Cleethorpes, the Target Towns, will be fierce. Labour will need an 11.7 point swing to win this newly-merged constituency back from the Conservatives.
In 2019, residents in Grimsby voted Tory for the first time since the end of the Second World War. The old Cleethorpes constituency was always more of a bellwether, having voted Conservative since 2010.
However, it has shed some of its rural, Conservative-voting residents in the merger.
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Sunak or Starmer?
Politics live: Why have politicians lost people’s trust?
Speaking on the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, small business owner Shannon said she might not vote in the next general election later this year as she “just can’t trust anything anybody says”.
She said she has felt this way since Brexit – something Grimsby was overwhelmingly in support of – because “we were promised ‘x’ and ‘y’ and it hasn’t happened, so I’m just totally disengaged from it”.
Asked whether local MPs on the panel – Conservative Lia Nici and Labour’s Melanie Onn – could change her mind, Shannon said “possibly”, but reiterated how let down local people feel.
“We’re promised a lot, but it’s never delivered,” she said. “Talk of things happening… and then it doesn’t happen and people are just fed up… have been told this is what we’re going to get, but it doesn’t actually happen. And that’s why people have just lost faith.”
The Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge has reported from Grimsby
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‘Lack of leadership’
Steven told Sophy Ridge that he will “force” himself to vote at the election as “you should”, but he doesn’t believe there is anyone worth voting for.
“I find politics almost unbelievable,” he added. “It’s nothing to believe in. There’s no one to believe in.”
He puts the blame down to a “lack of leadership nationally” and that the current crop of politicians “lack the statesmanship” needed.
“The politicians that we looked up to and respected as children and young people seem to have vanished,” he added. “It seems to be petty about scandal, backbiting.
“I think there are important issues that need to be addressed in this country, and I think turn on the television or watch debates, and that seems to be sorely lacking in politics at the moment.”
‘Start caring about us’
Sarah used a former US president to express her upset at the state of politics today, telling Sophy Ridge: “I think Ronald Regan said it best – the most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’, which I think is basically what most people think about the intervention of either Labour or a Conservative government.”
She said neither party had done anything for the town during their stints in power, and despite growing up in Grimsby, she was keen to leave as a result.
“It’s a shame really, because, you know, my family is from here, I’ve lived most of my life here, so it should be a place that is going to be a draw for young people – especially when you look at the housing prices.
“We just went to Liverpool in February and that’s such a wonderful city, you know, it’s like apples and oranges. But you look at what’s going [in Grimsby] and… the town centre is all fake shops or barbers or charity shops.
“No one does care about us and at the end of the day you can vote for any politician, but when they start caring about us, maybe we’ll care back.”
‘We fight for your town’
So what did the politicians have to say in response?
Both the Tory and Labour MPs accepted their roles in the downbeat feelings, with Ms Onn saying: “I do think I’m part of a system that bears responsibility for not communicating politics well, not engaging with people, not making them feel that they are heard enough through the course of our debates.
“I think the British public at large probably deserve to hear people occasionally say we haven’t always been as good as we could.”
But Ms Nici insisted it was not all just sniping in parliament and MPs do care about what happens to their constituents – and the country.
“What your MP does is go out, have a look at the legislation and then fight for your town,” she said. “I work hard every day to make sure that I’m listening to what you want and to be able to represent that right at the heart of at Grimsby.”
And both MPs agreed the town had a great future ahead after the next election. But it will be for the Shannons, Stevens and Sarahs to decide who stands up for them after the next election.
Negotiations to reset the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU are going “to the wire”, a Cabinet Office minister has said.
“There is no final deal as yet. We are in the very final hours,” the UK’s lead negotiator Nick Thomas-Symonds told Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.
On the possibility of a youth mobility scheme with the EU, he insisted “nothing is agreed until everything is”.
“We would be open to a smart, controlled youth mobility scheme,” he said. “But I should set out, we will not return to freedom of movement.”
Politics latest: PM outlines ‘benefits’ for UK from closer EU ties
The government is set to host EU leaders in London on Monday.
Put to the minister that the government could not guarantee there will be a deal by tomorrow afternoon, Mr Thomas-Symonds said: “Nobody can guarantee anything when you have two parties in a negotiation.”
But the minister said he remained “confident” a deal could be reached “that makes our borders more secure, is good for jobs and growth, and brings people’s household bills down”.
“That is what is in our national interest and that’s what we will continue to do over these final hours,” he said.
“We have certainly been taking what I have called a ruthlessly pragmatic approach.”
On agricultural products, food and drink, Mr Thomas-Symonds said supermarkets were crying out for a deal because the status quo “isn’t working”, with “lorries stuck for 16 hours and food rotting” and producers and farmers unable to export goods because of the amount of “red tape”.
Asked how much people could expect to save on shopping as a result of the deal the government was hoping to negotiate, the minister was unable to give a figure.
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Starmer’s stance on immigration criticised
On the issue of fishing, asked if a deal would mean allowing French boats into British waters, the minister said the Brexit deal which reduced EU fishing in UK waters by a quarter over five years comes to an end next year.
He said the objectives now included “an overall deal in the interest of our fishers, easier access to markets to sell our fish and looking after our oceans”.
Turning to borders, the minister was asked if people would be able to move through queues at airports faster.
Again, he could not give a definitive answer, but said it was “certainly something we have been pushing with the EU… we want British people who are going on holiday to be able to go and enjoy their holiday, and not be stuck in queues”.
PM opens door to EU youth mobility scheme
A deal granting the UK access to a major EU defence fund could be on the table, according to reports – and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has appeared to signal a youth mobility deal could be possible, telling The Times that while freedom of movement is a “red line”, youth mobility does not come under this.
The European Commission has proposed opening negotiations with the UK on an agreement to facilitate youth mobility between the EU and the UK. The scheme would allow both UK and EU citizens aged between 18 and 30 years old to stay for up to four years in a country of their choosing.
Earlier this month, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told Phillips a youth mobility scheme was not the approach the government wanted to take to bring net migration down.
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Return to customs union ‘remains a red line’
When this was put to him, Mr Thomas-Symonds insisted any deal on a youth mobility scheme with Europe will have to be “smart” and “controlled” and will be “consistent” with the government’s immigration policy.
Asked what the government had got in return for a youth mobility scheme – now there had been a change in approach – the minister said: “It is about an overall balanced package that works for Britain. The government is 100% behind the objective of getting net migration down.”
Phillips said more than a million young people came to the country between 2004 and 2015. “If there isn’t a cap – that’s what we are talking about,” he said.
The minister insisted such a scheme would be “controlled” – but refused to say whether there would be a cap.
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‘It’s going to be a bad deal’
Shadow cabinet office minister Alex Burghart told Phillips an uncapped youth mobility scheme with the EU would lead to “much higher immigration”, adding: “It sounds very much as though it’s going to be a bad deal.”
Asked if the Conservatives would scrap any EU deal, he said: “It depends what the deal is, Trevor. And we still, even at this late stage, we don’t know.
“The government can’t tell us whether everyone will be able to come. They can’t tell us how old the young person is. They can’t tell us what benefits they would get.
“So I think when people hear about a youth mobility scheme, they think about an 18-year-old coming over working at a bar. But actually we may well be looking at a scheme which allows 30-year-olds to come over and have access to the NHS on day one, to claim benefits on day one, to bring their extended families.”
He added: “So there are obviously very considerable disadvantages to the UK if this deal is done in the wrong way.”
Jose Manuel Barroso, former EU Commission president, told Phillips it “makes sense” for a stronger relationship to exist between the European Union and the UK, adding: “We are stronger together.”
He said he understood fishing and youth mobility are the key sticking points for a UK-EU deal.
“Frankly, what is at stake… is much more important than those specific issues,” he said.
Retired artist Ed Suman lost over $2 million in cryptocurrency earlier this year after falling victim to a scam involving someone posing as a Coinbase support representative.
Suman, 67, spent nearly two decades as a fabricator in the art world, helping build high-profile works such as Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog sculptures, according to a May 17 report by Bloomberg.
After retiring, he turned to cryptocurrency investing, eventually accumulating 17.5 Bitcoin (BTC) and 225 Ether (ETH) — a portfolio that comprised most of his retirement savings.
He stored the funds in a Trezor Model One, a hardware wallet commonly used by crypto holders to avoid the risks of exchange hacks. But in March, Suman received a text message appearing to be from Coinbase, warning him of unauthorized account access.
After responding, he got a phone call from a man identifying himself as a Coinbase security staffer named Brett Miller. The caller appeared knowledgeable, correctly stating that Suman’s funds were stored in a hardware wallet.
He then convinced Suman that his wallet could still be vulnerable and walked him through a “security procedure” that involved entering his seed phrase into a website mimicking Coinbase’s interface.
Nine days later, a second caller claiming to be from Coinbase repeated the process. By the end of that call, all of Suman’s crypto holdings were gone.
Related: Bitcoin breaks out while Coinbase breaks down: Finance Redefined
Coinbase suffers major data breach
The scam followed a data breach at Coinbase disclosed this week, in which attackers bribed customer support staff in India to access sensitive user information.
Stolen data included customer names, account balances, and transaction histories. Coinbase confirmed the breach impacted roughly 1% of its monthly transacting users.
Among those affected was venture capitalist Roelof Botha, managing partner at Sequoia Capital. There is no indication that his funds were accessed, and Botha declined to comment.
Coinbase’s chief security officer, Philip Martin, reportedly said the contracted customer service agents at the center of the controversy were based in India and had been fired following the breach.
The exchange has also said it plans to pay between $180 million and $400 million in remediation and reimbursement to affected users.
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United Kingdom crypto companies will need to collect and report data from every customer trade and transfer beginning Jan. 1, 2026 as part of a broader effort to improve crypto tax reporting, the UK government said.
Everything from the user’s full name, home address and tax identification number will need to be collected and reported for every transaction, including the cryptocurrency used and the amount moved, the UK Revenue and Customs department said in a May 14 statement.
Details of companies, trusts and charities transacting on crypto platforms will also need to be reported.
Failure to comply or inaccurate reporting may incur penalties of up to 300 British pounds ($398.4) per user. The UK Revenue and Customs department said it would inform companies on how to comply with the incoming measures in due course.
However, UK authorities are encouraging crypto firms to start collecting data now to ensure compliance readiness.
The new rule is part of the UK’s integration of the Organisation for Economic Development’s Cryptoasset Reporting Framework to improve transparency in crypto tax reporting.
The changes reflect the UK government’s aim to establish a more robust regulatory framework that supports industry growth while ensuring consumer protection.
Related: Bitwise lists four crypto ETPs on London Stock Exchange
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves also introduced a draft bill in late April to bring crypto exchanges, custodians and broker-dealers within its regulatory reach to combat scams and fraud.
“Today’s announcement sends a clear signal: Britain is open for business — but closed to fraud, abuse, and instability,” Reeves said at the time.
A study from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority last November found that 12% of UK adults owned crypto in 2024 — a significant increase from the 4% reported in 2021.
UK’s approach contrasts with EU’s MiCA
The UK’s move to integrate the crypto rules into its existing financial framework contrasts with the European Union’s approach, which introduced the new Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation framework last year.
According to the MiCA Crypto Alliance, one key difference is that the UK will allow foreign stablecoin issuers to operate in the UK without needing to register.
There will also be no cap on stablecoin volumes, unlike the EU’s approach, which may impose controls on stablecoin issuers to manage systemic risks.
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