British sovereignty of Gibraltar and Falklands ‘not up for negotiation’, Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman says
British sovereignty of Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands is not up for negotiation, the prime minister’s spokesman has said.
Questions over the government’s commitment to maintaining the British overseas territories as part of the UK have been raised after the government announced on Thursday it was handing the Chagos Islands over to Mauritius.
Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said the government was ruling out negotiations over Gibraltar, claimed by Spain, and the Falkland Islands, claimed by Argentina.
“There is no question about British sovereignty of those two, it is not up for negotiation,” he said.
Following Thursday’s announcement on the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, Argentina’s foreign minister promised “concrete action” to ensure the Falklands were handed to Buenos Aires.
However, Sir Keir’s spokesman said: “The Falklands is not up for discussion – that remains our position.
“Chagos is a unique situation with a unique history, it has no bearing on other territories.”
Gibraltar’s chief minister Fabian Picardo said the UK’s decision on the Chagos Islands has “no possible read across” to Gibraltar as the situations “are completely different”.
Falkland Islands governor Alison Blake said the UK government’s commitment to the islanders’ UK sovereignty was “unwavering” and “remains undiminished”.
Argentina claims the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic as its own. Pic: PA
The UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, the largest Chagos island, will remain. Pic: Reuters
Sir Keir’s spokesman said the former Conservative government had carried out 11 rounds of negotiations over the Chagos Islands since 2022 and the government had picked them up and reached an agreement.
The archipelago between Mauritius and India had been at the centre of a 50-year dispute after Mauritius gained independence from the UK in 1968 but the Chagos Islands did not.
Mauritius has been trying to claim the Chagos Islands since then but the UK has resisted as it has a key naval support base with the US on the largest island, Diego Garcia.
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Chagossians ‘feel betrayed again’
The native Chagossians were expelled from the islands for the base to be built, with most going to Mauritius or the Seychelles, and about 3,500 coming to the UK since 2002.
Under the new deal, the military base will remain under UK and US jurisdiction for at least the next 99 years.
Senior Conservatives criticised the decision as they fear it could grant China a foothold in the Indian Ocean as Beijing is heavily invested in Mauritius.
But Sir Keir’s spokesman said the deal settles the legal challenges, contested sovereignty and international court tribunals.
A protest was taking place outside parliament today by Chagossians who are angry they were not included in the talks for their homeland’s sovereignty.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has dismayed green Conservatives by declaring the UK’s target to reach net zero by 2050 “impossible”.
In a speech on Tuesday, the Conservative Party leader is expected to tell what she says is the “unvarnished truth” that the net zero goal cannot be achieved without “a serious drop in our living standards or by bankrupting us”.
Ms Badenoch will say she is not making a “moral judgement” on net zero or debating whether climate change exists.
But, as she begins to renew party policy, she will say that current climate policies are “largely failing” to improve nature and “driving up the cost of energy”.
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Net zero means cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, which cause climate change, to virtually zero, and absorbing the rest elsewhere.
Scientists say the world must reach that point by 2050 to avoid even worse flooding, wildfires, and other damage – but that action is lagging behind.
The UK has already cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half.
The next half is expected to be more challenging as it requires changes to people’s heating, cars and diet – things that often need upfront costs, but could save people money in the long run with the right government support, advisers have said.
Ms Badenoch’s plans take the Conservative Party to its most sceptical position on net zero yet – a target set in law by Tory Prime Minister Theresa May in 2019.
And it comes at a time when Reform UK is questioning climate science and US President Donald Trump, leader of the second most polluting country in the world, is dismantling nature protections.
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Kemi Badenoch heckled by climate protesters on Monday
Ms Badenoch’s “policy renewal” she is outlining on Tuesday will see shadow cabinet members set core priority questions as a move towards formulating new policy for the party.
Sam Hall, of the Conservative Environment Network of 50 MPs, said it was “a mistake” for Ms Badenoch to have “jumped the gun on her own policy review and decided net zero isn’t possible by 2050”.
He said the Tory leader was right to question Labour’s climate plans, but that the target is driven “not by optimism but by scientific reality; without it climate change impacts and costs will continue to worsen”.
Abandoning the science would risk losing voter’s support, he added.
Four in five Conservative voters in last year’s general election and two thirds of Reform voters thought it was important that the government cared about tackling climate change, according to polling by More in Common.
Shaun Spiers, executive director of thinktank Green Alliance, called it “disappointing” to see Ms Badenoch “turn her back on cleaner, cheaper, homegrown energy”.
“It is even more disappointing to see the leader of the opposition take cues from climate deniers across the pond,” he added, in a veiled swipe at President Trump.
“Net zero is not ‘nice-to-have’, it’s an achievable, evidence-based target designed to protect the UK from the worst impacts of climate change.”
The UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC), which advises governments on how to reach net zero, said last month the goal is “ambitious” but “deliverable”.
But it also warned as Labour took office last summer that, at that time, just one third of the cuts to greenhouse gases needed to reach an interim 2030 target were covered by a “credible plan”.
Asset manager Hashdex has amended its S-1 regulatory filing for its cryptocurrency index exchange-traded fund (ETF) to include seven altcoins in addition to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), according to a March 14 filing.
The revision proposes adding seven specific altcoins to the index ETF — Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), Avalanche (AVAX), Litecoin (LTC), and Uniswap (UNI). As of March 17, the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF holds only Bitcoin and Ether.
Previous versions of Hashdex’s S-1 suggested the possibility of adding other cryptocurrencies in the future but didn’t specify which ones.
According to the filing, the proposed altcoins additions “are decentralized peer-to-peer computer systems that rely on public key cryptography for security, and their values are primarily influenced by market supply and demand.”
The revised filing signals how ETF issuers are accelerating planned crypto product rollouts now that US President Donald Trump has instructed federal regulators to take a more lenient stance on digital asset regulation.
As part of the transition, the ETF plans to switch its reference index from the Nasdaq Crypto US Index — which only tracks BTC and ETH — to the more comprehensive Nasdaq Crypto Index, the filing said.
The asset manager did not specify when it plans to make the change. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must sign off on the proposed changes before they can take effect.
Hashdex plans to add seven altcoins to its index ETF. Source: SEC
Related: US crypto index ETFs off to slow start in first days since listing
Accelerating approvals
In December, the SEC gave the green light to both Hashdex and Franklin Templeton’s respective Bitcoin and Ether index ETFs.
Both ETFs were listed in February, initially drawing relatively modest inflows, data shows. They are the first US ETFs aiming to offer investors a one-stop-shop diversified crypto index.
Asset manager Grayscale has also applied to convert its Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund to an ETF. Created in 2018, the fund holds a crypto index portfolio comprising BTC, ETH, SOL and XRP, among others.
Industry analysts say crypto index ETFs are the next big focus for issuers after ETFs holding BTC and ETH listed in January and July, respectively.
“The next logical step is index ETFs because indices are efficient for investors — just like how people buy the S&P 500 in an ETF. This will be the same in crypto,” Katalin Tischhauser, head of investment research at crypto bank Sygnum, told Cointelegraph in August.
In February, the SEC acknowledged more than a dozen exchange filings related to cryptocurrency ETFs, according to records.
The filings, submitted by Cboe and other exchanges, addressed proposed rule changes concerning staking, options, in-kind redemptions and new types of altcoin funds.
Magazine: US enforcement agencies are turning up the heat on crypto-related crime
The newly reintroduced Boosting Innovation, Technology, and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment Nationwide (BITCOIN) Act of 2025 by Senator Cynthia Lummis would allow the United States to potentially hold over 1 million Bitcoin (BTC) in its crypto reserves.
The bill directs the government to buy 200,000 BTC annually over five years, to be paid for with existing funds within the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department.
If signed into law, the act would allow the US to hold more than 1 million BTC as long as the assets are acquired through lawful means other than direct purchases, including criminal or civil forfeitures, gifts, or transfers from federal agencies.
Democratic lawmaker urges Treasury to cease Trump’s Bitcoin reserve plans
US Representative Gerald Connolly, a Democrat from Michigan, called on the Treasury to cease its efforts to create a crypto reserve in the United States. The lawmaker said there were conflicts of interest with US President Donald Trump and argued that the reserve would not benefit Americans.
Connolly criticized the reserve in a letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, arguing that there’s no “discernible benefit” to Americans and that the move would instead make Trump and his donors richer.
Argentine lawyer requests Interpol red notice for LIBRA creator: Report
Argentine lawyer Gregorio Dalbon is seeking an Interpol Red Notice for Hayden Davis, the co-creator of the LIBRA token, which caused a political scandal in Argentina.
Dalbon submitted a request, seeking the Red Notice, to prosecutor Eduardo Taiano and judge María Servini, who are investigating the involvement of President Javier Milei in the memecoin project.
In a filing, the lawyer said there’s a procedural risk if Davis remains free. The lawyer argued that Davis could have access to funds that might allow him to go into hiding or flee to the US.
America must back pro-stablecoin laws, reject CBDCs — US Rep. Emmer
In a House Financial Services Committee hearing, US Representative Tom Emmer said that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) threaten American values. The lawmaker called on Congress to pass his CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act to block future administrations from launching a CBDC without congressional approval.
Emmer said at the hearing that CBDC technology is “inherently un-American,” adding that allowing unelected bureaucrats to issue a CBDC could “upend the American way of life.”
Texas lawmaker seeks to cap state’s proposed BTC purchases at $250 million
Ron Reynolds, a Democratic state representative in Texas, has proposed a cap for the state’s investment in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
The lawmaker proposed in a bill that the state’s comptroller should not be allowed to invest more than $250 million in crypto. The bill also directs Texas municipalities or counties to not invest more than $10 million in crypto.
The proposed bill follows the Texas Senate’s approval of legislation establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve in the state.
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