Cryptocurrencies: US Regulation

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Lord Livermore

Wednesday 12th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble and learned friend for his question. The Government’s approach to crypto assets seeks to strike the right balance between giving firms regulatory certainty and ensuring the sector has the space and flexibility to innovate. The Government recognise that our financial stability, as well as the other considerations that my noble friend mentioned, are associated with crypto assets, but they need to be balanced against supporting innovation and ensuring the UK positions itself as a competitive global destination for digital assets. Internationally, the UK financial authorities have been working, through the Financial Stability Board, to assess and develop supervisory and regulatory approaches to address the global financial stability risks posed by crypto assets and global stablecoins. We are also currently working to put in place a comprehensive domestic regulatory regime for crypto assets as financial services, to ensure the UK has the necessary protections for crypto asset usage.

[Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as the chair of the All-Party Group on Crypto and Digital Assets. The Minister’s remarks are very welcome. Does he agree with me that the risks around crypto are the risks of not regulating it? With one in four people in Britain now trading cryptocurrency —half of them under the age of 35—regulation has never been more needed. In essence, the key issue is time: we need to get on with it.

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question and pay tribute to his considerable expertise in this matter. I agree with what he said. Crypto assets have the potential to play a significant role in the financial services sector, and the economy more broadly, including through greater transparency, efficiency and security. We are already seeing the benefits that stablecoin can provide in cross-border payments by reducing costs and improving efficiency. Unlocking the full potential for digital assets and blockchain technologies requires payments that interact with them directly, and stablecoins can play an important role in achieving that. It is therefore important for the UK to harness those opportunities and—I agree with him on this—to bring forward legislation, and we will do so.

Stablecoin Ownership

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Lord Livermore

Thursday 16th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I agree with every word that the noble Lord said. Absolutely, getting the regulatory regime right for this is important. As I said, we will bring forward that legislation by the end of the year.

[Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Crypto and Digital Assets. Does not the Bank of England’s announcement that it plans to regulate how much stablecoin an individual can hold—I say for the benefit of the noble Lord, Lord Brennan, that a stablecoin is simply a digital currency linked to a fiat currency—send a terrible signal to people who want to base their crypto businesses in the UK? Will he ask the Bank of England to publish its modelling? Its reasoning is based on the idea that unlimited holdings of stablecoins might lead to a run on bank deposits.

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question. I am sure that, as chair of that group, he could help educate very many of us in this House. As I have said, the Government recognise that facilitating stablecoin innovation is important for UK competitiveness, but it is a matter for the Bank of England, as the independent regulator for systemic stablecoin, to design the regime it sees as necessary to manage the associated risks. As I understand it, in November 2023, the Bank published a discussion paper on its proposed regulatory regime for systemic payment systems using stablecoin, seeking industry feedback. Following further informal engagement, the Bank will formally consult on its systemic stablecoin regime in the coming months.

Tax on Imports under £135

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Lord Livermore

Monday 14th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)]

My Lords, the last Government removed the VAT exemption for tourists—the ability to reclaim VAT—which hit a lot of retailers and crafts companies based in the UK. The unique campaign to get that tax removed united people like the Scottish National Party with the Labour Party. Is that now a done deal? Will the tourist tax remain in place, or will the Government ever review it in terms of attracting international visitors?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

Again, I am very happy to take that as a Budget representation. As the noble Lord knows, we keep all taxes under review, but I will not be speculating on the next Budget.

Tourism Levy

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Lord Livermore

Monday 14th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I do not know what tourism tax the noble Lord is talking about because, as I think I have made clear, we have no plans to introduce what he is describing. He talked about the recent Budget. In the Budget we introduced a number of policies to help this sector, including freezing the business rates small business multiplier, together with a small business rates relief. This will exempt over a third of properties from business rates. We have also taken steps to reverse the decline of high streets, where one in seven shops now lies empty, by empowering local authorities through high street rental auctions to bring empty units back into use, and committing to permanently lowering business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties from 2026.

[Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)]

It seems pretty clear that a tourist tax is emerging as a form of generating revenue. Edinburgh, as was said earlier, is imposing one next year, and there are two voluntary levies, in Manchester and Liverpool. It seems to me that the Minister should certainly look at this in a couple of years’ time to see whether it is feasible. But does he agree the key will be that it supports culture, and indeed the hospitality businesses on which it is levied, and does not simply become just another tax that disappears into the council’s coffers?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

The noble Lord is talking about something that, again, we have no present plans to introduce.

Tax Increases

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Lord Livermore

Thursday 10th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

The OBR is aware of the Government’s policy. It is for it to certify the costings of that policy in its next forecast. As I have said, we will ask it for that forecast in time for the annual Budget and make decisions based on that.

[Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)]

My Lords, as this seems to be a free-for-all on putting forward our economic theories, could we ban discussions of tax cuts and rises and instead look at tax simplification? There is an excellent article in this week’s New Statesman—a magazine that I read assiduously every week—that regurgitates the excellent work by Paul Johnson, who has been mentioned. It points out that we have one of the longest tax codes in the world. George Osborne was undone by a pasty tax. Surely this Minister can see to it that we can tax an ice cream cone properly and really simplify taxes, which would have a huge impact on business confidence.

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question. It is not for me to ban conversations about tax rises or cuts, but I understand what he says about tax simplification and will take his thoughts about ice cream cones back to my colleagues in the Treasury.