Stephen ‘Cap’ Newnham, who leads community group Solana Superteam UK, has said he will stand as an independent candidate in the August 13 parliamentary by-election in Clacton against Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
On Tuesday in Newnham scratched five campaign objectives, including support for local entrepreneurs, digital education and artificial intelligence, financial literacy in schools and political transparency in the supply chain. He announced intends to run as an independent candidate on July 9.
Newnham’s fourth pledge, ‘You should own your pension’, argues that existing structures such as personal pension funds and petite, self-managed schemes allow savers to choose where to hold their assets. He also promised full transparency, with donations and meetings published in plain English and online.
The campaign did not detail the role of blockchain technology in managing pension assets or propose changes to pension law. Blockchain could make it more hard to change published records, but it would not by itself ensure that every donation or meeting is disclosed.
Cointelegraph contacted Newnham for more information about his proposals, but did not receive a response via publication.
According to his LinkedIn profileNewnham studied economics at the University of Edinburgh before joining the Solana ecosystem. He leads Superteam UK and co-authored a report on blockchain and the future of work for the Coinbase Stand With Crypto campaign and the DLT Science Foundation.
Great Britain’s super team he said The Cap for Clacton community was set up to lend a hand retain tech talent in the UK by supporting founders and developers using Solana, arguing that many entrepreneurs are leaving the country in search of better funding and opportunities to launch startups abroad.
Competition to control Farage funding
The candidacy brings the explicit crypto platform into a contest that began when Farage resigned from parliament on Wednesday and decided to contest his Clacton seat again as part of a parliamentary standards inquiry into whether Farage should have declared a £5 million ($6.7 million) personal gift from crypto investor Christopher Harborne. Farage said he had no obligation to report the gift because he received it before entering parliament.
Farage has faced additional scrutiny over his reported financial support from crypto entrepreneur George Cottrell and allegations that his financial relationships intersected with his support for digital asset policy. Farage denied wrongdoing and said he followed parliament’s rules.
Related: Bank of England governor denies Farage lobbying influenced CBDC policy: report
A national poll favors Count Binface
At the time of writing, the Democracy Club lists 11 potential candidates include Newnham, Farage and satirical candidate Coun Binface, although the council is not expected to confirm an official field until July 17.
On Friday, an Ipsos survey was conducted among 1,000 British adults found 33% preferred Binface to win, compared with 21% for Farage, but the national poll did not measure voting intentions among Clacton residents.
Preliminary survey results on the upcoming by-elections. source: Ipsos
Despite the unconventional nature of the vote, the result is being closely watched due to Farage’s involvement and scrutiny surrounding his decision to force a fresh vote.
Warehouse: Thai fraudster’s $122 million Japan wallet includes a crypto loan: Asia Express
