Starmer says he can’t rule out further tax rises before next election
Sir Keir Starmer has said it is not his “plan” to increase any more taxes before the next election – but he cannot categorically rule them out if “unforeseen circumstances” strike the government.
The prime minister told the BBC he did not “want to suggest we’re going to keep coming back for more because that isn’t the plan”.
However, he said the war in Ukraine and the COVID pandemic were examples of events “we can’t see now” that might necessitate further tax hikes.
Politics latest: PM meets with UK and Irish leaders
The prime minister’s words come after Rachel Reeves, his chancellor, initially ruled out further tax rises in a speech to business earlier this month – only to fail to repeat the pledge just days later.
Some of the tax rises announced in the October budget – including an increase in employers’ national insurance contributions and changes in inheritance tax for some farmers – have proved to be unpopular with the public, with the latter group staging protests to highlight their unhappiness with the measure.
Asked why he believed his popularity had dropped since the election, the prime minister said it was because he had taken “tough decisions” early on in his premiership.
“I just don’t want to do what politicians have done in the past which is to get in the warm bath of empty promises,” he told the BBC.
“I’m prepared to roll up my sleeves and tell people it’s tough – we’re going to do it but you’re going to be better off.”
He added: “You’ll have a better health service, you’ll have better houses, you’ll have better energy bills at the end of this and I’ll be judged, quite rightly, at the end of the parliamentary term whether I’ve delivered on what I said I would deliver on.”
In response, Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, said: “Keir Starmer has already raised taxes to historic levels. Now he claims he wants to give business certainty but he can’t answer a very basic question – will he or won’t he raise more taxes.
“We can see clearly the impact of his and Rachel Reeves’ first budget already – yesterday the Bank of England reported that the majority of businesses planned to put up prices and reduce jobs while the CBI is cutting growth projections.
“It’s no wonder he’s been forced to drop his commitment to grow the economy.”
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Starmer reveals new ‘milestones’
On Thursday the prime minister gave a major speech in which he promised change with six new “milestones” he said would be reached by the end of this parliament – including raising living standards in every part of the UK, building 1.5m homes in England and fast-tracking planning decisions on at least 150 major infrastructure projects.
He said they would “drive forward” his party’s missions and allow the public to “hold our feet to the fire” – but he was challenged on why bringing down migration had failed to make the list.
The prime minister said in response: “It is our duty to do it [bring migration down]. And we will do it.”
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UK has ‘acute’ housing crisis
Speaking to Sky News this morning, housing minister Matthew Pennycook said the UK needed to invest in training and apprenticeships for its “ageing construction workforce” to meet the prime minister’s milestone for housing and infrastructure.
For this, he said “some overseas workers will be required”.
“The previous government added construction to the shortage occupation list – it’s made a bit of a difference, but not enough,” he said.
Pressed on whether bringing more workers would be good for Labour’s plans to reduce migration, Mr Pennycook said it was the last government that made it easier for builders and tradespeople to get visas.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Source: Web.archive.org
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
Related: Bitcoin at 16: From experiment to trillion-dollar asset
Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
Related: Bitcoin’s next catalyst: End of $36T US debt ceiling suspension
Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: Conor Grogan
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
Magazine: 10 crypto theories that missed as badly as ‘Peter Todd is Satoshi’
The United States stock market lost more in value over the April 4 trading day than the entire cryptocurrency market is worth, as fears over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to ramp up.
On April 4, the US stock market lost $3.25 trillion — around $570 billion more than the entire crypto market’s $2.68 trillion valuation at the time of publication.
Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market”
Among the Magnificent-7 stocks, Tesla (TSLA) led the losses on the day with a 10.42% drop, followed by Nvidia (NVDA) down 7.36% and Apple (AAPL) falling 7.29%, according to TradingView data.
The significant decline across the board signals that the Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market” after falling 6% across the trading day, trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 4 X post. This is the largest daily decline since March 16, 2020.
“US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19 with recession odds ABOVE 60%,” it added. The Kobessi Letter said Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement was “historic” and if the tariffs continue, a recession will be “impossible to avoid.”
Source: Anthony Scaramucci
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
Trump said the reciprocal tariffs will be roughly half the rate US trading partners impose on American goods.
Related: Bitcoin bulls defend $80K support as ‘World War 3 of trade wars’ crushes US stocks
Meanwhile, the crypto industry has pointed out that while the stock market continues to decline, Bitcoin (BTC) remains stronger than most expected.
Crypto trader Plan Markus pointed out in an April 4 X post that while the entire stock market “is tanking,” Bitcoin is holding.
Source: Jeff Dorman
Even some crypto skeptics have pointed out the contrast between Bitcoin’s performance and the US stock market during the recent period of macro uncertainty.
Stock market commentator Dividend Hero told his 203,200 X followers that he has “hated on Bitcoin in the past, but seeing it not tank while the stock market does is very interesting to me.”
Meanwhile, technical trader Urkel said Bitcoin “doesn’t appear to care one bit about tariff wars and markets tanking.” Bitcoin is trading at $83,749 at the time of publication, down 0.16% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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