Starmer says he was ‘heavily focused’ on world affairs before U-turn on welfare bill

Published

5 months ago

June 29, 2025

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Sir Keir Starmer has said he was “heavily focused” on world affairs before he was forced to U-turn on his welfare bill after rebellion by MPs.

In a piece in The Sunday Times, Sir Keir said he was occupied with the G7 and NATO summits and the escalating tensions in the Middle East for much of the past two weeks.

His “full attention really bore down” on the welfare bill on Thursday, he added.

It comes after the government was forced to U-turn on plans to cut sickness and disability benefits after significant rebellion by Labour MPs earlier this week.

The government has since offered concessions ahead of a vote in the Commons on Tuesday, including exempting existing Personal Independence Payment claimants (PIP) from the stricter new criteria, while the universal credit health top-up will only be cut and frozen for new applications.

Sir Keir defended the U-turn by saying: “Getting it right is more important than ploughing on with a package which doesn’t necessarily achieve the desired outcome.”

He said all the decisions were his and that “I take ownership of them”.

There have been reports that rebel MPs blamed Sir Keir’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney for the government’s approach.

Sir Keir said: “My rule of leadership is, when things go well you get the plaudits; when things don’t go well you carry the can.

“I take responsibility for all the decisions made by this government. I do not talk about staff and I’d much prefer it if everybody else didn’t.”

Sir Keir said on Saturday that fixing the UK’s welfare system is a “moral imperative”.

Speaking at Welsh Labour’s annual conference in Llandudno, North Wales, Sir Keir said: “Everyone agrees that our welfare system is broken, failing people every day.

“Fixing it is a moral imperative, but we need to do it in a Labour way, conference, and we will.”

Politics

Scammers posed as Australian police to steal crypto, authorities warn

Published

3 hours ago

November 13, 2025

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Scammers posed as Australian police to steal crypto, authorities warn

Cryptocurrency scammers have impersonated Australian police and exploited government infrastructure to pressure victims into handing over their digital assets, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said Thursday.

The AFP said scammers used the local cybercrime reporting tool ReportCyber to submit reports about their targets. At a later time, they contact the victims posing as police and inviting them to check the report on government websites, lending credibility to the scammers.

In one case, the scammers warned the victim that they would be contacted by a representative from a crypto company, who would also provide information to prove their legitimacy. This second caller then attempted to persuade the target to transfer money from their platform wallet to a wallet of their choice.

“Thankfully the target became suspicious and hung up,“ the AFP said.

*ReportCyber, Australia’s cybercrime reporting tool. Source:* *Australian Government*

A game of pretend

AFP Detective Superintendent Marie Andersson said the scammers falsely claimed that an individual had been arrested and the victim identified in an investigation involving a crypto breach. She noted that the scammers’ verification steps often resembled legitimate law-enforcement procedures, making the scheme “highly convincing” to some victims.

Andersson said this was part of a broader trend in scams becoming increasingly sophisticated. She encouraged “Australians to adopt necessary safety measures online” and warned that “if you’re contacted by someone about a ReportCyber report you didn’t lodge or authorise someone to make on your behalf, terminate the call and notify ReportCyber.

“Also bear in mind legitimate law enforcement officials will never request access to your cryptocurrency accounts, wallets, bank accounts, cryptocurrency wallet seed phrases, or any personal information relating to your financial accounts.”

Australia cracks down on crypto crime

In late October, the AFP announced that it had cracked a coded cryptocurrency wallet backup containing 9 million Australian dollars ($5.9 million) — suspected to be the proceeds of a crime.

In late August, Australia’s markets regulator was reported to be expanding its campaign against online scams, having taken down 14,000 since July 2023, with over 3,000 involving cryptocurrency.

In July, authorities in the Australian island state of Tasmania found that the top 15 users of crypto ATMs in the state were all victims of scams, with combined losses of $1.6 million.

Magazine: Crypto scam hub expose stunt goes viral, Kakao detects 70K scam apps: Asia Express