Rishi Sunak to intervene in Sadiq Khan’s London housebuilding plan
Rishi Sunak is intervening in Sadiq Khan’s housing plan as he says not enough dwellings are built.
But the mayor of London has criticised the prime minister’s “disappointing and disingenuous claims” about the capital.
On Thursday, the government said Mr Khan has until the autumn to “look at opportunities to accelerate residential development on inner city brownfield industrial sites” or Housing Secretary Michael Gove will intervene directly.
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Downing Street criticised the mayor’s London Plan and wanted “to address issues such as single-story warehouses being prioritised over new homes on central London sites within a few minutes of tube stations”.
Mr Khan was quick to highlight his record on housebuilding, claiming that more homes had been completed under his leadership than at any time since the 1930s.
He pointed out progress had been to beat a target of starting 116,000 affordable homes in the capital between 2015 and 2023.
The government, meanwhile, claimed that “London’s own local housing plan says that 52,000 new homes are required – after the Mayor’s London Plan was not deemed credible to deliver the original 66,000 homes a year that he estimated to be needed”.
“Despite this, only around 30,000 have been built in recent years, and the latest indicator suggests only 21,000 new homes started development last year”.
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Mr Khan’s spokesperson said: “These disappointing and disingenuous claims appear to show a fundamental lack of understanding of housebuilding in London.
“The mayor delivered record numbers of affordable homes over the last six years, consistently exceeding government targets despite the impact of the pandemic and Brexit. This has included starting more council homes than at any time since the 1970s.
“The mayor’s London Plan was approved by the government in 2021 and the ministers should know that the housing figures included within it are reliant on sufficient government investment being made in infrastructure, particularly transport.”
Sunak jumping on Sadiq as he spies political win
In the aftermath of the Conservatives’ narrow win at the recent Uxbridge by-election, it was clear they had taken two key lessons from the result.
Tory MPs interviewed in the early hours said it was about showing what Labour in power was really like and that single issues, like ULEZ (the Ultra-Low Emission Zone) could be weaponised to win votes.
Less than a week later, it appears that the prime minister has wasted no time in applying what many in his party think could be the strategy that enables them to cling on to power at the next election.
Which is presumably why Rishi Sunak popped up on a London building site today to trash Sadiq Khan’s housebuilding record in the capital.
Focusing on the Labour mayor enables the prime minister to avoid his own party’s record which, assessed against almost any metric, is a disappointing one.
Their 300,000 homes a year pledge, established in 2017, has been oft ignored and at times watered down, with Housing Secretary Michael Gove last year downgrading it to “advisory”.
The party’s one serious attempt at meeting it with ambitious planning reforms and country-wide targets was met with a furious wave of opposition from its own MPs and council leaders, many determined to protect the picturesque Tory shires.
It was clear that approach had been abandoned this week when Mr Gove set out a new vision focused instead on cities, including a significant expansion of Cambridge – a scheme immediately condemned by the area’s Conservative MP.
Meanwhile, the most recent homelessness figures show record number of families living in temporary accommodation, including 131,000 children without a home.
Add to that the recent economic turmoil that has pushed up rents and mortgages to eye-watering levels and you get a toxic combination that underpins a dysfunctional and deteriorating housing market.
Rishi Sunak’s response? To point the finger at the London mayor and to say he will now step in to sort it out.
Given his government’s record across the rest of the country, Londoners may be forgiven for thinking this is anything more than electioneering.
Mr Sunak said: “We are on track to build 1 million new homes over this parliament, having already delivered over 2.2 million across the country since 2010.
“But the reality is that too few of these homes are being built in London, and for too many Londoners the dream of owning their own home is beyond reach.
“The mayor has failed to deliver the homes that London needs. This has driven up house prices and made it harder for families to get on the housing ladder in the first place.
“That is why we are stepping in today to boost house building and make homeownership a reality again for people across this great city.”
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In its plans, the government said it wanted to support a “Docklands 2.0”, which would see increased building in parts of east London like Thamesmead, Beckton and Silvertown.
It also said £150m for housebuilding will be passed onto London boroughs, bypassing the mayor’s Greater London Authority.
And another £200m will be spent on developing unused brownfield sites.
Panama’s capital city will accept cryptocurrency payments for taxes and municipal fees, including bus tickets and permits, Panama City mayor Mayer Mizrachi announced on April 15, joining a growing list of jurisdictions globally that have voted to accept such payments.
Panama City will begin accepting Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Circle’s USDC (USDC), and Tether’s USDt (USDT) stablecoin for payment once the crypto-to-fiat payment rails are established, Mizrachi posted on the X platform.
Mizrachi said previous administrations attempted to push through similar legislation but failed to overcome stipulations requiring the local government to accept funds denominated in US dollars.
In a translated statement, the Panama City mayor said that the local government partnered with a bank that will immediately convert any digital assets received into US dollars, allowing the municipality to accept crypto without introducing new legislation.
Panama City joins a growing list of global jurisdictions on the municipal and state level accepting cryptocurrency payments for taxes, exploring Bitcoin strategic reserves to protect public treasuries from inflation and passing pro-crypto policies to attract investment.
Related: New York bill proposes legalizing Bitcoin, crypto for state payments
Municipalities and states embrace digital assets
Several municipalities and territories around the globe already accept crypto for tax payments or are exploring various implementations of blockchain technology for government spending.
The US state of Colorado started accepting crypto payments for taxes in September 2022. Much like Panama City said it will do, Colorado immediately converts the crypto to fiat.
In December 2023, the city of Lugano, Switzerland, announced taxes and city fees could be paid in Bitcoin, which was one of the developments that earned it the reputation of being a globally recognized Bitcoin city.
The city council of Vancouver, Canada, passed a motion to become “Bitcoin-friendly city” in December 2024. As part of that motion, the Vancouver local government will explore integrating BTC into the financial system, including tax payments.
North Carolina lawmaker Neal Jackson introduced legislation titled “The North Carolina Digital Asset Freedom Act” on April 10. If passed, the bill will recognize cryptocurrencies as an official form of payment that can be used to pay taxes.
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As digital assets gain mainstream adoption, establishing a legal framework for stablecoins is a “good idea,” said US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
In an April 16 panel at the Economic Club of Chicago, Powell commented on the evolution of the cryptocurrency industry, which has delivered a consumer use case that “could have wide appeal” following a difficult “wave of failures and frauds,” he said.
Powell delivers remarks at the Economic Club of Chicago. Source: Bloomberg Television
During crypto’s difficult years, which culminated in 2022 and 2023 with several high-profile business failures, the Fed “worked with Congress to try to get a […] legal framework for stablecoins, which would have been a nice place to start,” said Powell. “We were not successful.”
“I think that the climate is changing and you’re moving into more mainstreaming of that whole sector, so Congress is again looking […] at a legal framework for stablecoins,” he said.
“Depending on what’s in it, that’s a good idea. We need that. There isn’t one now,” said Powell.
This isn’t the first time Powell acknowledged the need for stablecoin legislation. In June 2023, the Fed boss told the House Financial Services Committee that stablecoins were “a form of money” that requires “robust” federal oversight.
Related: Stablecoins are the best way to ensure US dollar dominance — Web3 CEO
Support for stablecoin legislation is growing
The election of US President Donald Trump has ushered in a new era of pro-crypto appointments and policy shifts that could make America a digital asset superpower.
Washington’s formal embrace of cryptocurrency began earlier this year when Trump established the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, with Bo Hines as the executive director.
Hines told a digital asset summit in New York last month that a comprehensive stablecoin bill was a top priority for the current administration. After the Senate Banking Committee passed the GENIUS Act, a final stablecoin bill could arrive at the president’s desk “in the next two months,” said Hines.
Bo Hines (right) speaks of “imminent” stablecoin legislation at the Digital Asset Summit on March 18. Source: Cointelegraph
Stablecoins pegged to the US dollar are by far the most popular tokens used for remittances and cryptocurrency trading.
The combined value of all stablecoins is currently $227 billion, according to RWA.xyz. The dollar-pegged USDC (USDC) and USDt (USDT) account for more than 88% of the total market.
Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom
An appellate court has granted a joint request from Ripple Labs and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to pause an appeal in a 2020 SEC case against Ripple amid settlement negotiations.
In an April 16 filing in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the court approved a joint SEC-Ripple motion to hold the appeal in abeyance — temporarily pausing the case — for 60 days. As part of the order, the SEC is expected to file a status report by June 15.
The SEC’s case against Ripple and its executives, filed in December 2020, was expected to begin winding down after Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced on March 19 that the commission would be dropping its appeal against the blockchain firm. A federal court found Ripple liable for $125 million in an August ruling, resulting in both the SEC and blockchain firm filing an appeal and cross-appeal, respectively.
However, once US President Donald Trump took office and leadership of the SEC moved from former chair Gary Gensler to acting chair Mark Uyeda, the commission began dropping multiple enforcement cases against crypto firms in a seeming political shift. Ripple pledged $5 million in XRP to Trump’s inauguration fund, and Garlinghouse and chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty attended events supporting the US president.
Related: SEC dropping Ripple case is ‘final exclamation mark’ that XRP is not a security — John Deaton
Despite support for the end of the case coming from both Ripple and the SEC, the August 2024 judgment and appellate cases leave some legal entanglements. Alderoty said in March that Ripple would drop its cross-appeal with the SEC and receive a roughly $75 million refund from the lower court judgment. It’s unclear what else may result from negotiations over a settlement in appellate court.
New leadership at SEC incoming
Acting chair Uyeda is expected to step down following the US Senate confirming Paul Atkins as SEC chair on April 9.
During his confirmation hearings, lawmakers questioned Atkins about his ties to crypto, which could create conflicts of interest in his role regulating the industry. In financial disclosures, Atkins stated he had millions of dollars in assets through stakes in crypto firms, including Securitize, Pontoro and Patomak.
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