3SEP

Byrne pushes for a permanent crypto ban

1 min read

12:41UTC

Labour's Liam Byrne wants the crypto donation ban written permanently into law, not left as a moratorium a future government could lift by order.

← Back to Reform's £4m arrived as cash, not crypto Jump to analysis ↓

PoliticsDeveloping

Key takeaway

Liam Byrne's NC34 amendment seeks a permanent crypto donation ban rather than a reversible moratorium.

Labour backbencher Liam Byrne tabled amendment NC34 at Report stage, going further than the government's own moratorium by seeking a permanent statutory ban on cryptocurrency political donations. ¹

A moratorium can be lifted by a later government through secondary legislation; a permanent statutory ban cannot, without fresh primary law. Byrne's amendment would fix the prohibition in the Act itself rather than leave it to ministerial discretion, hardening the finance bill Westminster shelved before the elections against a future reversal.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

The government's own crypto donation ban is a temporary rule that a future minister could quietly loosen. Labour MP Liam Byrne wants something sturdier. His proposal, amendment NC34, would write the ban into permanent law instead, meaning any future government wanting to allow crypto donations again would have to pass a whole new Act of Parliament, rather than simply changing a regulation.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

Reed's government amendment is a moratorium rather than a permanent ban because it was drafted to survive Report stage without reopening the Bill's Rycroft Review basis to fresh scrutiny; a moratorium keeps the door open to future ministers loosening it by regulation.

Byrne's NC34 exists precisely to close that door, converting a policy that could lapse or be eased administratively into primary legislation that would require a fresh Act of Parliament to reverse.

Sources:Unchained

Mentions:Liam Byrne →Representation of the People Bill →Parliament →Westminster →

First Reported In

Update #12 · The finance bill Reform outran is back

Unchained· 15 Jul 2026

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Causes and effects

This Event

Byrne pushes for a permanent crypto ban

A permanent statutory ban would remove a later government's power to reopen crypto donations without fresh primary legislation.

Led to

Crypto donation ban backdated to March

Byrne's NC34 amendment pushes further than the government's own moratorium amendment tabled the same week.

Occurred 14 Jul 2026

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Different Perspectives

Scottish Labour members

Scottish Labour's published leadership nominations show 33 MPs and MSPs backing Michael Marra against 12 for Joe Fagan, with members voting until 17 September and a result on 19 September. Elected members do not cast the ballot, so the nomination gap measures the parliamentary party rather than the membership that will decide it.

Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission published its Q2 2026 donations register on 3 September, recording Reform UK's £5.44m as the highest of any party and Ben Delo's £4m as two cash gifts. The register records a donation's form and amount, not the origin of a donor's wealth, so a cash gift shows the same as any other.

Reform UK

Danny Kruger, Reform UK's MP for East Wiltshire, called the Bill "a flagrantly partisan attempt to kneecap Reform UK" during the 2 September debate, objecting to its trade-union exemption. Reform enters its Birmingham conference having topped Q2's donor register at £5.44m, £4m of it in cash from Ben Delo, a form the new ban does not reach.

Ian Davidson, Acting Returning Officer for Clacton

Davidson's office printed a 90cm ballot paper for the record 34-candidate field, with nothing in electoral law capping candidate numbers or the £500 deposit each pays. He expects the paper's size to raise printing costs and slow the count into the early hours, a strain that follows from the major parties' boycott, not from turnout.

Labour Party

Labour gained Penistone East from Reform on 20 August but lost Harraby South to Reform the same night, a wash that undercuts any claim of momentum. The party can point to beating Reform in a genuinely fought contest, but not to a pattern running only in its favour.

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats took two of Reform's May wards, Almondbury on 13 August and St Neots Eynesbury on 20 August, the latter on a 29.8-point rise in their own vote share. Both results let the party claim it is the beneficiary when voters turn against Reform, not Labour or the Conservatives.