Speeches by Brickell.

“I want to ask a couple more questions on crypto. You have touched on wallets, and you have touched on ultimate beneficial information on the source of donors and whether that is permissible. Can you say what your assessment is of how far back through crypto transactions political parties would have to go to determine w…”

“Mr Rangarajan, the Elections Act 2022 introduced the requirement for a strategy and policy statement. I believe the commission is firmly against that requirement. Can you explain to the Committee why that is the case?”

“Given that disaggregation risk, is there not an argument to say, given the Government have yet to ban cryptocurrency, given the commission is going to bring forward guidance, and given three parties have already said that they are accepting, or open to accepting, donations, that the commission might look again at the e…”

“The commission’s guidance, which you mentioned, is going to come shortly. Can you say any more on timelines? In particular, are we expecting that it will be published before the local elections?”

“I really want to dig into the risks around cryptocurrency donations in politics. Can you briefly outline those risks, as the Electoral Commission sees them at the moment?”

“So at the moment, parties are receiving crypto donations, or are able to do so. Have you received any suspicious activity reports from agencies around crypto being received by political candidates, individuals, or parties?”

“Presumably from the FCA.”

“On this point, you mentioned earlier in your testimony that you receive suspicious activity reports.”

“Thank you.”

“I have a final question. On 7 October 2025, I wrote to you in my capacity as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, on a separate issue: reports in The Guardian about Wafic Saïd, a Canadian citizen who is resident in Monaco and ineligible to vote in the UK. Reports were made …”

“You talked at the start of your testimony about increasing the number of staff at the commission. When it comes to cryptocurrency, one of my concerns is around the capabilities that the commission might have. You will need somebody who understands how cryptocurrency works, and you will need somebody who has an understa…”

“But there is a risk there, isn’t there? The parties that receive donations in crypto currency have to swap them into fiat currency, as you say, but these instruments are very easy to manipulate in terms of how volatile their value can be. If parties are not able to, or do not, swap the donor cryptocurrency into fiat cu…”

“Sorry—the three that already accept crypto donations are Reform UK, the Homeland party and the Other party. Do you have the wallet addresses? Are you able to oversee those at the moment, or is that going to come in due course?”

“I want to ask a couple more questions on crypto. You have touched on wallets, and you have touched on ultimate beneficial information on the source of donors and whether that is permissible. Can you say what your assessment is of how far back through crypto transactions political parties would have to go to determine w…”

“I agree with that sentiment, and we have exchanged correspondence to that effect previously. I want to go back to crypto. The intention is that there will be guidance that outlines to the political parties how far up the blockchain, in essence, they need to go to determine whether the source of the donation is permissi…”

“The commission’s guidance, which you mentioned, is going to come shortly. Can you say any more on timelines? In particular, are we expecting that it will be published before the local elections?”

“I really want to dig into the risks around cryptocurrency donations in politics. Can you briefly outline those risks, as the Electoral Commission sees them at the moment?”

“Can the Minister confirm that the taskforce will look at the effectiveness of the OfS as the regulator for the sector in driving better student outcomes and preventing student harm?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Christopher. I will focus on recent goings-on at my local institution, the University of Greater Manchester, where over the past year there have been credible, detailed and publicly available allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption involving senior executives and…”

“Mr Rangarajan, the Elections Act 2022 introduced the requirement for a strategy and policy statement. I believe the commission is firmly against that requirement. Can you explain to the Committee why that is the case?”