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The editorial argues that Reform UK’s crypto policies and reliance on crypto-linked mega-donors undermine credibility, citing proposed crypto tax cuts, a bitcoin reserve fund, and the removal of pro-crypto proposals from the party’s website. It also questions funding motives and ties perceptions of “funny money” to declining support. A news report details the family of Nicholas Brandram denying he was the “Putney pusher.”",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-independent-friday-18-september-2026-editorial-news/330079/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-independent-friday-18-september-2026-editorial-news/330079.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Evangeline","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-23","2026-09-21",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":52},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What does the editorial criticize about Reform UK’s crypto policies?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It criticizes the policies as lacking a coherent economic rationale and argues they are out of sync with the party’s typical supporters, potentially alienating voters.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why does the editorial say Reform UK’s funding could be a weakness?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It claims major donors made fortunes in crypto and may have sought to return to the UK to avoid new foreign-donation restrictions, reinforcing a “bought by wealthy backers” perception.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What do Nicholas Brandram’s family insist about the “Putney pusher” allegation?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"They insist he was not the person accused as “the Putney pusher,” citing alleged “immense pressure” from the police investigation as a factor in his death.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},330079,1790196463,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":52,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},13056703019662,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/be000253a8e92610077?_k=1778726343310543188","| FRIDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2026 | WWW. INDEPENDENT. CO. UK |\n| --- | --- |\n\nFriday 18 September 2026  \nNews/Editorial   \nReform UK’s crypto policies are making the party lookout of touch  \nven before the unprecedented donations of £36m each from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, The Independent had drawn attention to the high dependence of Reform UK on donors who made their money in cryptocurrencies.  \nThat dependence is now almost total, which puts the policies of Nigel Farage’s party in an even more questionable light.  \nThe party proposes to cut capital gains tax on crypto assets from 24 per cent for higher-rate taxpayers and 18 per cent for basicrate taxpayers to a flat 10 per cent. It wants to establish a Bank of England bitcoin reserve fund, and it wants to allow British taxes to be paid in cryptocurrency.  \nThe capital gains tax change alone would be worth about £100ma year to crypto investors – and would do nothing to promote growth. Paul Johnson, the former director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, told The Independent: “There is quite clearly no feasible economic rationale for treating crypto more leniently than other economically productive assets.”  \nThe party seems to have now realised that looking like the political wing of the crypto industry might be a problem for it. The pro-crypto policies, contained in a document called the  \nCryptoassets and Digital Finance Bill, published in May last year, have recently been removed from Reform’s website. However, they have not been disowned. On the contrary, although Richard Tice, the deputy leader, has hinted that the policies are now under review, he made it clear that Reform has a favourable view of cryptocurrencies and said that they should be “sensibly lightly taxed”.  \nReform’s association with the crypto business in fact could be a serious weakness. Far fewer people in the UK own cryptocurrency (8 per cent) than in, say, America (25 per cent). Infact, enthusiasm for digital currencies has nothing to do with the main issues that animate Reform voters, namely Brexit and immigration. In some more intellectual parts of the right, there is a link between libertarianism and crypto, because digital currencies are a potential store of value that is independent of the state. But this is a tangent to the main driver of Reform support: immigration. Indeed, extreme liberals, if they are consistent, ought to be in favour of the free movement of people.  \nIt is somewhat paradoxical, then, that Reform’s funding should come almost exclusively from people who have made their fortune in crypto. And even more curious that the party’s two mega-donors, Mr Delo and Mr Harborne, lived abroad until this year. They are British citizens, and so are entitled to make political donations. But what is striking is that they support Mr Farage so strongly that both of them appear to have moved back to the UK specifically in order to try to avoid the Labour government’s new restrictions on donations from citizens living abroad. How ironic that, while Labour’s policies on non-doms are driving many of the globally mobile rich away, its policy on donations is encouraging at least two wealthy individuals to return to these shores.  \nReform’s funding could be its Achilles’ heel, because it seems so out of sync with the party’s natural supporters. Mr Farage was  \nalready losing popularity because of the way he responded to legitimate questions about the £5m personal gift he received from Mr Harborne shortly before the last election. His aggressive “none of your business” and “I could spend it on Ferraris if I want” dented his man-of-the-people image. The sheer size of the sum involved automatically made him “out of touch” with normal people, and the source of the money, from a crypto billionaire based in Thailand, made it seem even stranger.  \nThere is no link between the party’s crypto donors and the Channel 4 sting that found two Reform officials apparently suggesting ways of getting around the law against ","cbCaib5YOuqB51fa","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaib5YOuqB51fa","pdf",4992592,155,"English","# News/Editorial\n## Reform UK’s crypto policies face scrutiny\n# News\n## Family denies Nicholas Brandram was “Putney pusher”","[{\"question\":\"What does the editorial criticize about Reform UK’s crypto policies?\",\"answer\":\"It criticizes the policies as lacking a coherent economic rationale and argues they are out of sync with the party’s typical supporters, potentially alienating voters.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the editorial say Reform UK’s funding could be a weakness?\",\"answer\":\"It claims major donors made fortunes in crypto and may have sought to return to the UK to avoid new foreign-donation restrictions, reinforcing a “bought by wealthy backers” perception.\"},{\"question\":\"What do Nicholas Brandram’s family insist about the “Putney pusher” allegation?\",\"answer\":\"They insist he was not the person accused as “the Putney pusher,” citing alleged “immense pressure” from the police investigation as a factor in his death.\"}]","The Independent - Friday 18 September 2026 Editorial News | PDF",1789986989,391]