Key events
UK inflation held at 3% before global energy price hit from Iran war
The UK inflation rate held steady at 3% in February, before Donald Trump’s Iran war drove up global energy costs, threatening a renewed price jump, Heather Stewart reports.
What joint committee on national security strategy said about case for ban on crypto donations to parties
This is what parliament’s joint committee on the national security strategy said about the case for banning cryptocurrency donations to political parties in a report on political finance and foreign influence published last week.
double quotation mark Crypto donations pose an unnecessary and unacceptably high risk to the integrity of the political finance system and public trust in it. We accept that future regulations may institutionalise the use of alternative payment systems for use in donations. At present, however, the opportunity to evade rules is too high, the adequacy of mitigations too low, and the resource cost of attempting to implement acceptable oversight is disproportionate. We see no democratic imperative to permit the use of crypto in political finance until adequate safeguards are in place.Crypto also poses wider upstream risks to the integrity of political finance: donors can convert ‘dirty’ foreign crypto funds into ‘clean’ UK fiat and then donate it without arousing much suspicion. A ‘last mile’ ban on crypto donations is therefore not a panacea. Specialist capabilities to address upstream risks are underpowered and require further work.
The government should introduce a binding moratorium on crypto donations as an amendment to the representation of the people bill. This moratorium should remain in place until the Electoral Commission has issued statutory guidance on crypto donations which applies to its regulated entities.
Review of foreign financial interference in UK politics to be published, with ban on crypto donations expected
Good morning. In December the government announced that Philip Rycroft, a former permanent secretary at the Brexit department, will lead a review into foreign financial interference into UK politics. The review is being published today, and it will include recommendations that we’re told the government will implement as a priority.
The review will make recommendations relevant to all the political parties, but no one in government is trying very hard to pretend that one party in particular isn’t the main focus. Rycroft was hired for the job soon after Nathan Gill, the former Reform UK leader in Wales, was sentenced to 10 and a half years in jail for taking bribes to spout pro-Russian propaganda. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, dismissed Gill as a one-off bad apple, but other Brexit party MEPs gave pro-Russian speeches similar to Gill’s. Reform UK is the Brexit party under a new name.
And Reform UK is the only political party actively encouraging donations in cryptocurrency – which is widely seen as the currency of choice for people keen to avoid the attention of the regulatory authorities. Parliament’s joint committee on the national security strategy has been calling for a ban on crypto donations to political parties and, according to a story by Max Kendix in the Times, Rycroft is going to say he agrees. Kendix says: “Keir Starmer is expected to ban cryptocurrency donations in a blow to Nigel Farage as an independent review warns that they risk letting foreign powers intervene in British democracy.”
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Wes Streeting, the health secretary, will give a speech. As Denis Campbell reports, he will welcome figures showing public satisfaction with the NHS has risen for the first time since 2019.
9.30am: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government publishes figures showing council tax figures for England for 2026/27.
Morning: The government is due to publish the report from the review by Philip Rycroft into foreign financial interference in UK politics.
Noon: Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.
Noon: John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, takes questions from MSPs. (FMQs is normally on a Thursday, but it’s Wednesday this week because of the recess coming up.)
After 12.30pm: Steve Reed, the local government secretary, is expected to make a Commons statement on the Rycroft review.
Afternoon: Peers will debate the children’s wellbeing and schools bill, and there will be a move to re-insert the clause inserting a social media ban on under-16s orginally added by the Lords (against the wishes of the government) but subsequently taken out again by peers.
4.30pm: Michael Shanks, the energy minister, gives evidence to the Commons energy committee on energy resilience.
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