Steve Reed rejects calls to ban foreign languages in election campaigns

LOCAL government secretary Steve Reed has said he believes political parties should be able to communicate in whatever language they wish after ban on crypto donations was announced.

Speaking on GB News Steve Reed said: “What we’re trying to do is make sure that British elections and British democracy remain safe from interference by hostile foreign states who want to influence who becomes the government of this country to benefit themselves.

“Now, what I’ve done is I’ve asked Philip Rycroft, who is a senior former civil servant, politically neutral, fully impartial, I asked him to conduct a review to check whether our safeguards that have been in place for many years now, are robust enough to withstand the growing threats that we face from dark money being funnelled in to try and influence our politics.

“And he’s published a report, there are actually 17 recommendations in there. Two are brought forwards to announce today that they will apply retrospectively from today. The reason is that they relate to cryptocurrency being used to provide donations to political parties and huge donations from British citizens living and paying their taxes abroad.

“The reason we’re bringing that forward is if we didn’t bring that forward, then there would be a window between now, when I announced the change, and Parliament enacting the change, when it will be possible to circumvent any future legislation.

“So it will be retrospective, assuming that legislation is passed, and we don’t expect it to come into force until 2027, but it would be retrospective in that respect alone, starting today, in order that there’s not a window where Russia, China, whoever could funnel money.

“It’s not about what has happened to date. It is about looking at future threats to our democracy. And I got Philip Rycroft to look at this. Cryptocurrency could be used to donate to any political party. Okay, I know that Reform have been accepting crypto donations now, but if they’re able to get donations in that way, every party will do that.

“They’re not going to leave one channel of support to one party alone. So ultimately, it would affect and influence all of our political parties.

“But the thing that makes crypto different is, unlike money that comes through the British banking system or the business system in the UK, you cannot determine where the money originates.

“So if you’re sitting in the Kremlin, if you’re sitting in Beijing and you want to funnel millions of pounds into the UK to enforce elections, you’ll use cryptocurrency to do that, because that’s the best way to anonymously make your donations.

“What we’re doing is to protect the integrity of British elections, so it is only British people who will choose who the government will be. But ultimately, I know Reform aren’t accepting this today, but it will benefit Reform, because it safeguards them, just like it safeguards the Labour Party and everyone else from being used as a funnel for dark money.

“[Converting crypto into cash] would be traceable, because you do that within our system, and it would then be a criminal offence under the legislation we’re bringing in.

“And it’s not a permanent ban on crypto, just to be really clear, it’s a moratorium. So until we have the safeguards in place and the Electoral Commission can safely determine where the money has originated from, and it will be for parliament to determine that at some point in the future, it’s a moratorium.

“Because we cannot allow, nobody surely would want the Kremlin to be funnelling millions of pounds into UK elections to influence the outcome. And that’s not to say that they would only funnel it through one party; they could funnel it through any party.”

Commenting on calls from the Conservatives to ban the use of foreign languages in election campaigns, he said: “I think it’s for political parties to choose how they campaign and communicate with British voters. If they’re using British money that is funding their campaigns and they’re speaking to people who have the right to vote, then why would you not show those voters the respect of communication?

“What fuels division is Nick Timothy standing up and singling out Muslim forms of worship for a ban when he’s not applying that to forms of worship that other religions are talking about.

“The Trafalgar Square situation, we’ve had Hindu worship there. We’ve had Jewish worship there. Nick Timothy singled out Muslim worship to say that alone should not be banned.

“That’s incredibly divisive, and if it wasn’t that Kemi Badenoch was scared he’d defect to Reform, he’d have been kicked off the front bench last week.”