Starmer defends ‘vital’ benefit cuts – as he cites cases of his late mother and brother
The government can’t “shrug its shoulders” and pretend the welfare system is “progressive”, Sir Keir Starmer has said, as he again defended his benefit cuts.
The prime minister told Sky News political correspondent Serena Barker-Singh he understands why some of his backbenchers are uncomfortable, noting his late mother had a disability and he recently lost his brother to cancer.
Politics live: Protesters get into House of Lords
However, he said it is “morally indefensible that a million young people are going essentially from education on to benefits”.
“All the evidence shows if young people are in that position and so early in their lives, they’re going to find it really difficult ever to get out of that,” the prime minister said.
He said it was indefensible to have a system that “makes it really difficult” for the unemployed to get into work.
“There aren’t many people who genuinely argue the status quo is working,” Sir Keir said.
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Benefits cuts explained
‘We can’t just shrug our shoulders’
Sir Keir said there were two million people on benefits because of sickness – a figure he said would double by 2030 without action from the government.
“We can’t just shrug our shoulders and pretend that it’s progressive to watch millions more people go on to disability benefits when they could and many of them want to be in work,” he added.
“That’s why it’s so vital that we carry out these reforms.”
The £5bn package of savings announced on Tuesday includes making it harder for people to claim a key disability benefit called personal independence payment (PIP).
The government is also delaying access to the universal credit health top-up until claimants are 22, using the cash to invest in training opportunities for young people.
This will go alongside a £1bn investment into “tailored” support to help the disabled and long-term sick get jobs, as well as several other reforms.
Read more:
What is PIP?
Key welfare changes explained
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Govt ‘rushed’ welfare reforms
Labour backlash
The timing of the announcement has attracted criticism given Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ spring statement next Wednesday, when she is expected to announce more spending cuts.
At PMQs, veteran Labour left-winger Diane Abbott challenged ministers’ arguments of a “moral” need for change, saying: “This is about the Treasury’s wish to balance the country’s books on the back of the most vulnerable and poor people in this society.”
It echoes an argument the Tories are making, which is that while they broadly support reform, the cuts are only being made because of the damage they say Ms Reeves’ October budget has done.
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What to expect from the spring statement
Ministers insist they would have changed things regardless of the fiscal situation, but that hasn’t quelled discontent, with Labour MP Chris Webb becoming the first of the 2024 cohort to break ranks.
It has led to questions about what the Starmer government stands for, following rows over cuts to the aid budget and the winter fuel payment, and the refusal to drop the two-child benefit cap.
Earlier on Thursday, defence minister Luke Pollard denied Labour was now a centre-right party.
It came after Health Secretary Wes Streeting rejected accusations Labour was “turning into the Tories”.
Acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) John Durham has departed as President Donald Trump’s pick takes control of the office.
In a May 5 notice, the US Attorney’s Office for EDNY said Joseph Nocella will serve as interim US Attorney for the region for 120 days or until a Senate-confirmed nominee assumes the role. Nocella’s appointment came as jury selection began in the criminal trial of Braden John Karony, the former CEO of crypto firm SafeMoon.
It’s unclear how the advancement of Nocella, appointed by US President Donald Trump this month, could affect prosecutors’ case against Karony, who faces charges of securities fraud conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. Nocella said he intended to help prosecute “narcotics-traffickers, gang members, terrorists, human-traffickers and other criminals.”
The former SafeMoon CEO asked the court in February to consider pushing back the start of the trial based on “significant changes” Trump had proposed affecting US securities laws, potentially impacting his criminal case.
Related: What do crypto users want to happen to Alex Mashinsky?
Though not as well known for criminal cases involving high-profile figures in the crypto industry, the Eastern District of New York has been responsible for overseeing cases against individuals tied to digital assets, including a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaint against Hex founder Richard Heart and fraudsters.
Its neighboring district, the Southern District of New York, will oversee the sentencing of former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky on May 8. Jay Clayton, a Wall Street insider and the former chair of the SEC, became the interim US Attorney for the district in April.
Criminal trial to start on May 6
SafeMoon’s Karony, Kyle Nagy, and Thomas Smith were charged in November 2023 for “diverted and misappropriated millions of dollars’ worth” of the platform’s SFM token between 2021 and 2022. Karony has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has been free on a $3 million bond since February 2024.
In a May 5 filing, Karony agreed to have jury selection for his trial proceed under US Magistrate Judge James Cho. District Judge Eric Komitee is expected to oversee the trial starting on May 6.
Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight
US President Donald Trump’s crypto businesses are drawing increased scrutiny on Capitol Hill and beginning to influence the progress of US digital asset legislation. As Republican lawmakers in the US House of Representatives unveiled their draft of a digital asset market structure bill on May 5, Democrats prepared for a united response to Donald Trump’s deepening connections with the industry.
Speaking to Cointelegraph on May 5, a Democratic staffer with knowledge of the matter said that House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters planned to lead some members of her party out of a Republican-led hearing discussing digital assets. The May 6 hearing, entitled “American Innovation and the Future of Digital Assets” and led by Committee Chair French Hill, could address draft legislation proposed by Republican lawmakers to establish a crypto market regulatory structure.
In a May 5 statement, Rep. Hill and three top Republicans unveiled the draft bill, which could clarify the treatment of digital assets by the US’s financial regulators: the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Hill and others echoed some of Trump’s talking points on crypto — e.g, making the US a “crypto capital of the world” — suggesting deference to the president’s previously announced policies.
The draft bill included a provision requiring the SEC and CFTC to issue joint rules defining digital commodities. According to the text, transactions involving digital commodities “shall be deemed not to be an offer or sale of an investment contract” as long as the purchaser did not have “an ownership interest or other interest in the revenues, profits, or assets.”
According to the Democratic staffer, rules required all members of the House Financial Services Committee to agree to move forward with the digital asset hearing, suggesting that Waters intended to block the Republican-controlled event and conduct a shadow hearing to explore Trump’s and his family’s ties to the crypto industry. At least nine Democrats have reportedly considered a similar move to oppose a proposed stablecoin bill in the Senate.
Calls for impeachment, criticism from both sides
Some members of Congress have already called for Trump’s impeachment after he offered the opportunity for some of his top memecoin holders to tour the White House and attend a private dinner. In addition to the memecoin, the president’s family has backed the firm World Liberty Financial, which recently launched its own stablecoin, and an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm used the USD1 stablecoin to settle a $2 billion investment in Binance.
Related: US Senator calls for Trump impeachment, cites memecoin dinner
Waters, according to the staffer, requested that Hill and Republicans amend any proposed legislation to explicitly prevent potential conflicts of interest in which Trump could personally enrich himself through crypto ventures. Cointelegraph reached out to Hill’s office but did not receive a response at the time of publication. The Arkansas lawmaker reportedly said in March that the Trump family’s involvement in the crypto industry makes related legislation “more complicated.”
Republican lawmakers in the United States currently have control of the House, Senate, and presidency. At least two senators supportive of Trump have criticized his memecoin dinner, hinting that the president was selling access to his office. It’s unclear at the time of publication who among the memecoin holders could attend the May 22 dinner in person.
Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
Asset manager VanEck has asked US regulators for permission to list an exchange-traded fund (ETF) holding BNB, the native token of Binance’s BNB Chain, regulatory filings show.
The ETF is designed to accumulate spot BNB (BNB) tokens and “may, from time to time, stake a portion of the [fund’s] assets through one or more trusted staking providers,” according to the ETF’s S-1 prospectus. The filing marks the first time an asset manager has filed for a BNB ETF in the United States.
The BNB token has a market capitalization of roughly $84 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap. As of May 5, BNB stakers earn a yield of approximately 2.5%, according to data from Stakingrewards.com.
Binance’s BNB Chain is among the most popular smart contract networks, with a total value locked (TVL) of nearly $6 billion, according to data from DefiLlama.
Related: Binance co-founder CZ proposes Bitcoin, BNB for Kyrgyzstan reserves
Bitcoin’s “spillover” effect?
The filing comes days after Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao reportedly said he expects the popularity of Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs to eventually “spill over” into altcoins.
“This cycle so far has been the ETFs. And it’s almost all Bitcoin. Ether hasn’t had as much success but Bitcoin success will spill over to the others eventually,” CZ reportedly said during the Token2049 conference in Dubai.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted net inflows of more than $40 billion since launching in January of 2024, according to data from Farside Investors.
VanEck’s filing is the newest in a flurry of filings seeking to list ETFs holding altcoins.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has acknowledged dozens of cryptocurrency ETF proposals since US President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20.
They include plans for ETFs holding native layer-1 tokens such as Solana (SOL) as well as memecoins such as Dogecoin (DOGE).
VanEck has filed to list other cryptocurrency ETFs over the past few months, including funds holding Solana and Avalanche (AVAX).
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