General Election 2024: British accountability and tackling hate crime – the wish list of Sikh voters in key target Labour areas
They may not be as numerous as Muslim voters, and there are no rebel candidates stealing them away from Labour over conflicts abroad, but Punjabis are a specific electorate with their own concerns, and some of their communities happen to be highly concentrated in key target seats for Sir Keir Starmer’s party.
The Sikh Federation UK estimates their community could have an impact in up to 80 constituencies, and so we’ve taken our parliamentary people’s bench to two seats in South East England, to find out what Sikh voters are looking for in the next government.
First, we visit a Punjabi sporting event – the ancient game of Kabaddi.
Described as Sikh sumo wrestling, and played in teams, it originated as a military training exercise on how to take captives and win ground.
In a circular arena, teams of well-stacked men send players to “raid” the opposition territory and touch their opponents without being pinned down or shoved out of the circle.
The event is taking place in the constituency of Ealing Southall, known as The Little Punjab.
Dabinderjit Singh from the Sikh Federation UK
Fuel, shopping and rent
Sikhs make up 30% of the population here but spectators come to the event from across the country – and sharing their thoughts, seated on our parliamentary bench at the edge of the kabaddi pitch, they expressed views similar to those we’ve heard elsewhere.
“Fuel, shopping, rents, it just goes up and up,” says Kabaddi referee Sucha Singh Thind. “Every government comes in. They promise a lot of things, ‘we do this, we do that’, but nothing happens in the end.”
Kabaddi referee Sucha Singh Thind
Southall resident Arshpreet Singh Randhawa adds: “The current cost of living as we all know is through the roof and it is becoming extremely difficult to live and sustain, evident that with the amount of homeless on the streets.”
Ealing Southall is a safe Labour seat, but our next stop, Gravesham in Kent, is more of a knife edge.
Home to the largest Gurdwara in the UK, it is currently held by the Conservatives, but is a Labour target.
Residents in Southall
Here, 8% of the electorate is Sikh, and with a recent survey showing they are inclined to vote Labour and are also likely to turn out in large numbers, they could tip the balance over who wins here.
Accountability for the past
Outside their place of worship, a giant banner commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Sikh massacre at the Golden Temple at Amritsar in India.
Classified documents released in 2014 raised questions over the involvement of the British government and the SAS in events leading up to the killings. Sikhs at the Gurdwara in Gravesend said they want politicians to commit to a public inquiry into British actions.
Sky’s parlimentary bench outside a Sikh temple in South East England
Dabinderjit Singh, from the Sikh Federation UK, says: “We’re marking the 40th anniversary of 1984, and I remember 10 years ago when those papers came out, we just thought, why did our government advise on attacking a holy place?
“It’s something that changed my life and changed the lives of many people.”
Even younger Sikhs at the Gurdwara, who weren’t born in 1984, tell us this is an important issue for them.
Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour committed to a judge-led inquiry, but it’s not clear what Labour will do under Sir Keir.
It’s not a manifesto pledge, however, his deputy Angela Rayner tweeted on 1 June.
“We mark the 40th anniversary of the rain of the Golden Temple,” she wrote, adding that Labour stands with the Sikh community in calling for an inquiry into the historic role Britain played.
The latest survey of Sikh voting intentions shows 43% Labour and 20% for the Conservatives. But many are still undecided.
Mr Singh adds: “The surveys we’ve done suggest 85% of Sikhs actually come out and vote. There are probably one million Sikh voters.
“Sikhs exist in every single constituency in the UK. And on top of that, we have towns and cities where there are 20 to 25 thousand Sikhs, and therefore the Sikh vote really matters on the 4th of July.”
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Tackling hate crime
Another issue, raised by several worshipers, is tackling hate crime specific to Sikhs.
Jagjit Singh Dhaliwal, a volunteer at the Gurdwara, says: “Whereas Islamophobia, antisemitism are widely recognised for specific hate crime, nothing exists for the Sikhs, but because of our dress we can become targets for hate crime exactly the same as Muslims do.
“That needs to be recognised so we can start taking some action to eradicate that.”
Jagijit Singh Dhaliwal says the government should be tackling hate crime against his community
Again, the community have expectations that Labour may address things that the Conservatives have not, but there is nothing down in print in Labour’s manifesto.
The Sikhs pride themselves on being humble, shrewd and community-minded – organising outreach projects and free food for the homeless in every Gurdwara in the country.
Read more:
How the young are engaging with election
What the parties are promising
How Beth Rigby prepared for Starmer and Sunak grilling
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“We represent the nation very well. We hold its core values and as a community we are very close-knit,” says student Rickvir Singh Randhawa.
Their wish list from politicians is not hugely expensive and, with Labour’s Muslim votes potentially depleted in certain areas over their stance on the events in Gaza, Sikhs believe their vote could become even more crucial in certain constituencies.
Over a third of people think Rachel Reeves exaggerated economic bad news in the run-up to the budget – twice as many as thought the chancellor was being honest, a new Sky News poll has found.
Some 37% told a YouGov-Sky News poll that Ms Reeves made out things were worse than they really are. This is much higher than the 18% who said she was broadly honest, and the 13% who said things were better than she presented.
This comes in an in-depth look at the public reaction to the budget by YouGov, which suggests widespread disenchantment in the performance of the chancellor.
Just 8% think the budget will leave the country as a whole better off, while 2% think it will leave them and their family better off.
Some 52% think the country will be worse off because of the budget, and 50% think they and their family will be worse off.
This suggests the prime minister and chancellor will struggle to sell last week’s set-piece as one that helps with the cost of living.
Some 20% think the budget worried too much about help for older people and didn’t have enough for younger people, while 23% think the reverse.
The poll found 57% think the chancellor broke Labour’s election promises, while 13% think she did not and 30% are not sure. Some 54% said the budget was unfair, including 16% of Labour voters.
And it arguably gets worse…
This comes as the latest Sky News-Times-YouGov poll showed Labour and the Tories are now neck and neck among voters.
The two parties are tied on 19% each, behind Reform UK on 26%. The Greens are on 16%, while the Liberal Democrats are on 14%.
This is broadly consistent with last week, suggesting the budget has not had a dramatic impact on people’s views.
However, the verdict on Labour’s economic competence has declined further post-budget.
Asked who they would trust with the economy, Labour are now on 10% – lower than Liz Truss, who oversaw the 2022 mini-budget, and also lower than Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 election.
The Tories come top of the list of parties trusted on the economy on 17%, with Reform UK second on 13%, Greens on 8% and Lib Dems on 5%. Nearly half, 47%, don’t know or say none of them.
Only 57% of current Labour voters say the party would do the best job at managing the economy, falling to 25% among those who voted Labour in the 2024 election.
Some 63% of voters think Ms Reeves is doing a bad job, including 20% of current Labour voters, while just 11% of all voters think she is doing a good job.
A higher proportion – 69% – think Sir Keir Starmer is doing a bad job.
Paul Atkins, chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, said that the agency can continue advancing digital asset regulation without legislation from Congress, signaling his expectations for the industry in 2026.
In a CNBC interview released on Tuesday, Atkins said the SEC was providing “technical assistance” as Congress considered legislation for digital asset regulation, likely referring to the market structure bill working its way through the US Senate. Atkins said that although the agency’s operations were impacted by the longest US government shutdown in the country’s history, he continued to make progress on “rules that are focused on helping [the crypto] sector.”
“We have enough authority to drive forward,” said Atkins. “I’m looking forward to having an innovation exemption that we’ve been talking about now. We’ll be able to get that out in a month or so.”
Atkins, whom the US Senate confirmed to chair the SEC in April after his nomination by US President Donald Trump, has taken steps to reduce the number of enforcement actions against crypto companies, including by issuing no-action letters for decentralized physical infrastructure networks.
His actions align with many of the policy directives from the White House under Trump, who has issued several executive orders touching on crypto and blockchain.
Related: Republicans urge action on market structure bill over debanking claims
The SEC chair rang the opening bell at the NYSE on Tuesday, outlining his plans for the agency “on the cusp of America’s 250th anniversary.”
US regulators are still awaiting progress on a market structure bill
Lawmakers on the US Senate Agriculture Committee and the Senate Banking Committee are taking steps to move forward with a digital asset market structure bill, which will outline the regulatory authority of agencies, including the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, over cryptocurrencies.
Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott said that the committee planned to have the bill ready for markup in December.
Magazine: When privacy and AML laws conflict: Crypto projects’ impossible choice
An official from the Bank of Russia suggested easing restrictions on cryptocurrencies in response to the sweeping sanctions imposed on the country.
According to a Monday report by local news outlet Kommersant, Bank of Russia First Deputy Governor Vladimir Chistyukhin said the regulator is discussing easing regulations for cryptocurrencies. He explicitly linked the rationale for this effort to the sanctions imposed on Russia by Western countries following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Chistyukhin said that easing the crypto rules is particularly relevant when Russia and Russians are subject to restrictions “on the use of normal currencies for making payments abroad.”
Russia banned the use of cryptocurrencies for payments in the summer of 2020.
Chistyukhin said he expects Russia’s central bank to reach an agreement with the Ministry of Finance on this issue by the end of this month. The central issue being discussed is the removal of the requirement to meet the “super-qualified investor” criteria for buying and selling crypto with actual delivery. The requirement was introduced in late April when Russia’s finance ministry and central bank were launching a crypto exchange.
Related: UK sanctions Kyrgyz banks, $9.3B crypto network tied to Russia
What is a super-qualified investor?
The super-qualified investor classification, created earlier this year, is defined by wealth and income thresholds of over 100 million rubles ($1.3 million) or an annual income of at least 50 million rubles.
This limits access to cryptocurrencies for transactions or investment to only the wealthiest few in Russian society. “We are discussing the feasibility of using ‘superquals’ in the new regulation of crypto assets,” Chistyukhin said, in an apparent shifting approach to the restrictive regulation.
Related: How a Russian national allegedly laundered $530M in crypto via Tether
Russia’s fight against sanctions
Russia has been hit with sweeping Western sanctions for years, and regulators in the United States and Europe have increasingly targeted crypto-based efforts to evade those measures.
In late October, the European Union adopted its 19th sanctions package against Russia, including restrictions on cryptocurrency platforms. This also included sanctions against the A7A5 ruble-backed stablecoin, which EU authorities described as “a prominent tool for financing activities supporting the war of aggression.”
Earlier in October, reports indicated that A7A5 — backed by the Russian ruble but issued in Kyrgyzstan — had become the world’s largest non-US-dollar stablecoin. In August, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also redesignated cryptocurrency exchange Garantex Europe to its list of sanctioned entities for a second time.
Magazine: When privacy and AML laws conflict: Crypto projects’ impossible choice
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