Exit polls for the general election in the United Kingdom suggest that the Conservatives are set to lose control of the government to the Labour Party for the first time in 14 years.
According to a BBC exit poll, Labour will secure 410 seats in Parliament, cementing its status as the ruling party in the UK. This means that Labour leader Keir Starmer will likely become the next UK Prime Minister, replacing Rishi Sunak, who has been in office since October 2022.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives are expected to retain roughly 131 seats. Some crypto-friendly members of the UK Parliament announced ahead of the election that they planned to leave the government.
Lisa Cameron, an MP known for advocating many pro-crypto policies, stated in October that she would not be standing in the general election. Despite a potential Labour victory, experts suggest that crypto policy might face delays for several months.
Following Sunak’s announcement of the general election from May 30 to July 4, the House of Commons went into recess, with another recess scheduled in the summertime before the autumn party conference season.
Labour victory’s impact on crypto policies
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was required to announce a general election in the United Kingdom before January 2025, but his decision to hold one in July could push back the implementation of crypto policies in the country.
This election may shake up party control of the UK government, potentially leading to changes in crypto policy down the road. The Conservatives have been the primary governing party in the UK since 2010.
The result, if confirmed, would counter a rightward trend among Britain’s closest allies. In France, the far-right National Rally is eyeing power, and in the United States, Donald Trump seems poised for a return.
Under Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system, a party needs 326 seats to win an overall majority in Parliament. After a sleepless night of counting and declarations, the winner is expected to meet with King Charles III, who will ask the leader of the largest party to form a government.
Ministerial appointments are anticipated soon after an acceptance speech to the media in Downing Street. Speaking to Cryptopolitan, Seamus Rocca, CEO of Xapo Bank, said:
“In the US we saw how the current administration took an anti-Crypto stance over the last few years and despite that clamp down, the Bitcoin ETF has proven that institutional demand for Bitcoin was very high.”
Rocca questions if crypto will become politicized in the UK between the Tory and Labour parties. He emphasizes that the UK needs to focus on making itself attractive to entrepreneurship, innovation, fintech, and crypto to create industry and jobs.
Reporting by Jai Hamid
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