Plans to spend millions on ‘forgotten neighbourhoods’ – could yours be one of them?

Published

16 hours ago

May 14, 2025

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Proposals have been drawn up to spend millions in deprived neighbourhoods which are most at risk of failing to meet the government’s missions, Sky News understands.

Approving the money will ultimately be a decision for the Treasury in the upcoming spending review, but it has wide support among backbench MPs who have urged the government to do for towns “what Blair and Brown did for cities” and regenerate them.

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Labour MPs told Sky News austerity is the main driver of voters turning to Reform UK and investment is “absolutely critical”.

The plan is based on the findings of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods (ICON), which identified 613 “mission-critical” areas that most need progress on Sir Keir Starmer’s “five missions”: the economy, crime, the NHS, clean energy and education.

The list of neighbourhoods has not been published but are largely concentrated around northern cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, Sunderland and Newcastle, a report said.

Some of the most acute need is in coastal towns such as Blackpool, Clacton, and Great Yarmouth, while pockets of high deprivation have been identified in the Midlands and the south.

Clacton is the seat of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who is hoping to be Sir Keir’s main challenger at the next general election following a meteoric rise in the polls.

‘Residents deserve better’

However, Labour MP for Blackpool South Chris Webb said this wasn’t about Reform – but investing in places that have been forgotten.

He told Sky News: “Coastal towns like my hometown of Blackpool have been overlooked by successive governments for too long, and it’s time to change that narrative.

“The findings of the ICON report are a wake-up call, highlighting the urgent need for investment in our communities to address the alarming levels of crime, antisocial behaviour, poverty, and the stark disparities in life expectancy.”

He said he’d be lobbying for at least £1m in funding. His residents are “understandably frustrated and angry” and “deserve better”.

‘Investment essential to beat Reform’

The spending review, which sets all departments’ budgets for future years, will happen on 11 June. It will be Rachel Reeves’ first as chancellor and the first by a Labour government in over a decade.

Southport MP Patrick Hurley told Sky News the last Labour government “massively invested in our big cities” after the dereliction of the 1980s, “but what Blair and Brown did for our cities, it’s now on the new government to do for our towns”.

He added: “Investment in our places to restore pride, and improve the look and feel of where people live, is essential.”

Another Labour backbencher in support of the report, Jake Richards, said seats like his Rother Valley constituency had been “battered by deindustrialisation and austerity”.

“Governments of different colours have not done enough, and now social and economic decay is driving voters to Farage,” he said.

“We need a major investment programme in deprived neighbourhoods to get tough on the causes of Reform.”

ICON is chaired by former Labour minister Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top.

The report said focusing on neighbourhoods is the most efficient route to mission delivery and is likely to have more support among voters “than grandiose national visions of transformation” – pointing to the Tories’ “failed levelling up agenda”.

The last major neighbourhood policy initiative was New Labour’s “New Deal for Communities”, which funded the regeneration of 39 of England’s poorest areas.

Research suggests it narrowed inequalities on its targeted outcomes and had a cost-ratio benefit. It was scrapped by the coalition government.

Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has already announced £1.5bn “Plan for Neighbourhoods” to invest in 75 areas over the next decade, with up to £20m available for each.

A government source told Sky News expanding the programme “would be a decision for the upcoming spending review”.

Politics

Coinbase refuses $20M ransom after support agent data breach

Published

1 hour ago

May 15, 2025

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Coinbase refuses M ransom after support agent data breach

Coinbase, the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, was hit by a $20 million extortion attempt after cybercriminals recruited overseas support agents to leak user data, the company said.

According to a May 15 blog post, Coinbase said a group of external actors bribed and coordinated with several customer support contractors to access internal systems and steal limited user account data.

“These insiders abused their access to customer support systems to steal the account data for a small subset of customers,” Coinbase said, adding that no passwords, private keys, funds or Coinbase Prime accounts were affected.

Less than 1% of Coinbase’s monthly transacting users’ data was affected by the attack, the company said.

Coinbase refuses $20M ransom after support agent data breach — *Source:* *Coinbase*

After stealing the data, the attackers attempted to extort $20 million from Coinbase in exchange for not disclosing the breach. Coinbase refused the demand.

Instead, the company announced it was offering a $20 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the scheme.

Scammers often masquerade as recognizable brands to inspire a false sense of trust in their victims.

In 2024, Coinbase was the most impersonated cryptocurrency brand by scammers.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

Politics

Sir Keir Starmer in talks with ‘a number of countries’ over return hubs for failed asylum seekers

Published

3 hours ago

May 15, 2025

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Sir Keir Starmer in talks with 'a number of countries' over return hubs for failed asylum seekers

The UK is in talks with “a number of countries” about sending failed asylum seekers to return hubs in third countries, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

The prime minister confirmed the plan at a press conference alongside his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama in the country’s capital, Tirana.

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Sir Keir described the hubs as a “really important innovation” that complements other measures the government is taking to crack down on criminal smuggling gangs.

“We are in talks with a number of countries about return hubs,” he said.

“At the appropriate time, I’ll be able to give you further details in relation to it.”

Sir Keir did not say which countries he is in talks with, but Mr Rama suggested he is not open to hosting UK detention centres as Albania has already signed a deal for Italy to build them there.

“We have been asked by several countries if we were open to it, and we said no, because we are loyal to the marriage with Italy and the rest is just love,” he said.

Earlier, Sir Keir told GB News that the hubs would be for people whose asylum applications have failed and they have exhausted all avenues to appeal.

This is a different concept to the Tories’ failed Rwanda scheme which Sir Keir scrapped almost immediately after winning the general election.

The Rwanda plan involved deporting all people who arrived in the UK by unauthorised means to the east African country, where their asylum claims would be processed for them to settle there, not in Britain.

Return hubs would be an offshore location to hold migrants set to be returned to their home countries and who have no chance of remaining in the UK.

The Rwanda scheme failed to get off the ground before the Tories lost the election, despite millions spent, after it was repeatedly challenged in the courts.

Shadow home office minister Chris Philp today insisted it would have acted as a deterrent, whereas the return hubs are a “con on the British public”.

He said: “It’s better than nothing but it won’t work because most of the people crossing the Channel are of nationalities where they will get their asylum claims granted.

“It’s a con on the British public for Keir Starmer to claim these return hubs will have any practical effect.”

Mr Philp also called it a “slap in the face” and “humiliation” for the prime minister that Albania has already rejected the idea, saying he’d travelled all that way to “announce a few tweaks” to a cooperation deal that was put in place by the Conservatives.

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Politics

Ukraine strategic Bitcoin reserve bill reportedly in final stages

Published

3 hours ago

May 15, 2025

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Ukraine strategic Bitcoin reserve bill reportedly in final stages

Ukraine is reportedly moving closer to adopting Bitcoin as a national reserve asset, a move that could bolster its financial resilience amid the ongoing war with Russia.

Lawmakers are reportedly working on a Bitcoin (BTC) national reserve proposal, with a draft bill in its final stages, according to Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a member of parliament who confirmed the plan to local media outlet Incrypted.

The proposal was announced during the CRYPTO 2025 conference in Kyiv on Feb. 6. “We will soon submit a draft law from the industry allowing the creation of crypto reserves,” Zhelezniak said.

Cointelegraph reached out to Zhelezniak for comment on the bill’s status but had not received a response by publication.

Bitcoin has gained international attention as a national reserve asset since the election of US President Donald Trump in November 2024. On March 7, Trump signed an executive order to establish a national Bitcoin reserve seeded with BTC confiscated from criminal cases.

A month later, Swedish MP Rickard Nordin issued an open letter urging Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson to consider adopting Bitcoin as a national reserve asset, citing its growing recognition as a “hedge against inflation,” Cointelegraph reported on April 11.

Legal challenges may delay adoption

While Ukraine’s push for a national Bitcoin reserve marks a potentially historic shift in crypto policy, it may require “significant legal change,” according to Kyrylo Khomiakov, regional head of CEE, Central Asia and Africa, at crypto exchange Binance.

“We commend Ukraine’s ambition to establish a strategic crypto reserve,” he told Cointelegraph. “Implementing such a reserve would necessitate significant legal changes, indicating that this process will not be swift.”

He added, “Another positive aspect is that this initiative will likely lead to greater regulatory clarity in Ukraine, as the government will need to articulate its stance more clearly.”

Ukraine was reportedly planning to legalize cryptocurrencies in early 2025 with the finalization of a draft bill in coordination with the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Daniil Getmantsev, head of the tax committee of the Verkhovna Rada.

On April 8, Ukraine’s financial regulator proposed taxing certain crypto transactions as personal income with a rate of up to 23%, excluding crypto-to-crypto transactions and stablecoins.

Not all voices in Ukraine’s crypto industry are optimistic about the timing of the proposal.

”The country is broke. More than 50% of the budget is in grants and loans from the European Union,” said Michael Chobanian, the founder of Ukraine-based Kuna exchange.

“The population is decreasing at the fastest rate in the world. Men are kidnapped and sent to the army against their will. What kind of BTC reserves are we talking about here? This is done only to divert your attention,” Chobanian claimed.