7OCT

Byrne pushes for a permanent crypto ban

1 min read

13:09UTC

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.

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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 →Rycroft Review →Committee on Standards in Public Life →

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

Rhun ap Iorwerth / Welsh Government (Plaid Cymru)

Ap Iorwerth presented six priorities to the Senedd on 22 September without numeric targets or a named partner party, promising to work across the chamber where there is common ground. He says his government will be judged on results.

Michael Marra / Scottish Labour

Marra won the leadership on 19 September, and three days later his 17 MSPs backed Swinney's right-to-decide motion once their child-poverty amendment was written in. He says Scottish Labour's task is to tell voters what it stands for.

Andy Burnham / Labour Party

Burnham told conference in Liverpool on 29 September that Labour's next manifesto will commit to changing the electoral system, and invited every party into a National Commission on Electoral Reform. He has not named a replacement system, and no chair or remit has been published.

Conservative Party (frontbench peers and Kemi Badenoch)

Conservative frontbench peers argued against retrospective rules at the Lords Second Reading on 14 September, a position that protects gifts made before any cap. Kemi Badenoch rejected Burnham's electoral reform commission on 2 October, accusing him of using it to entrench the left.

Reform UK

Reform denied wrongdoing after the Channel 4 News programme, called the sting a hoax by climate activists and said it would cooperate with the Metropolitan Police. In the same month it announced £36m gifts from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne.

Steff Aquarone / Liberal Democrats (North Norfolk)

Aquarone told Rayner in the Commons on 7 September that North Norfolk District Council had spent money preparing for a reorganisation the Government has now withdrawn. He puts the cost of the cancelled merger on districts in the four areas.