The woman who previously advocated for regulation of crypto in the United Kingdom with the use of technology, Tulip Siddiq, has been appointed by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer as Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister.
In her new position will oversee financial services including cryptocurrency and blockchain. She held the Shadow City Minister post while in opposition.
Her appointment came after the Labour Party’s landslide victory at the poll last week. This may not come as a big surprise to many because of the Labour Party’s positive body language regarding blockchain and crypto, including its position to support the digital-pound plans of the Bank of England. The party has also promised to make the U.K. a tokenization hub.
Siddiq, 41, in a 2022 article pointed out some of the dangers and potential of crypto to the financial sector when she noted that “Properly regulated crypto assets have the potential to transform our economy and the financial services sector.”
Siddiq, who represents London’s Hampstead and Highgate constituency, is known among parliamentarians to have started debates about cryptocurrency fraud and the measures the government can put in place to reduce cases of fraud.
She joined the Labour Party at 16, citing the National Health Service and the care her disabled father received as the reason why she joined, taking former Labour minister Barbara Castle as her political role model.
She has held several political posts including Camden London Borough Councillor
for Regent’s Park (May 6, 2010 – May 22, 2014); Shadow Minister for Children and Early Years (January 7, 2020 – December 4, 2021); and Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury (December 4, 2021 – July 5, 2024) among others.
In 2015, she won election to the Parliament as MP for Hampstead and Kilburn with 44.4% of the vote and a majority of 1,138
Her new role as the Economic Secretary to the Treasury City Minister takes effect from July 9, 2024
