- Industry stakeholders have asserted that the UK’s crypto adoption plans will remain on track even if Labour wins the upcoming general election
- Adam Jackson of Innovate Finance believes the Conservative Party’s crypto initiatives are too advanced to be easily reversed by a potential Labour victory
- Concerns persist that Labour could delay or reroute the Conservative’s crypto policies
The UK’s crypto adoption plans should not deviate if Labour wins the next general election, according to one industry stakeholder. Adam Jackson, director of policy at Innovate Finance, recently told Coindesk that the Conservative Party’s crypto plans are far enough down the road to ensure that they cannot easily be derailed by Labour if, as is widely expected, it wins an election this year. Labour is heavily tipped to unseat the Conservatives, with an election yet to be announced but expected in the autumn, with some in the space worried that the incomers could scrap the Tories’ crypto plans.
UK Crypto Plans Started in 2022
The Conservative Party outlined their desire to make the UK a blockchain hub in April 2022 through then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak. Sunak became Prime Minister six months after his announcement, since when the UK as made significant strides to try and realize this ambition, introducing a markets bill aimed at regulating cryptocurrencies as financial activities under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The Conservative government is currently finalizing legislation for stablecoins and staking, aiming to enact these before an election, which Sunak himself said in January would be in the second half of the year. Labour is expected to kick the Conservatives out of office on election night, but Jackson told Coindesk that incumbents are working on secondary legislation to formally assign regulatory duties to the FCA concerning cryptocurrencies, noting, “We expect these powers to be in place by the election, as there have been no indications to suggest otherwise.”
Continuation the Smoothest Course
Further backing this sentiment, Laura Navaratnam, UK policy lead at the Crypto Council for Innovation, noted that the Conservative government is on track to put strong enough foundations down that any replacement government cannot simply rip them out. She highlighted ongoing efforts by the Bank of England and the FCA, which have been advancing discussions on stablecoins, although she cautioned that political changes could potentially slow these processes.
Labour has expressed intentions to transform the UK into a hub for securities tokenization as part of its broader financial services strategy, although details on their approach to broader cryptocurrency regulation remain sparse. Jackson noted that this was “a critical issue that Labour will need to address” but concluded that he and his colleagues “expect a continued stable approach to financial services regulation.”
