Let’s see it before we believe it.
Still, no matter how horrific generally speaking, any political party may include among its members at least a few in a position to affect policy who will recognize and act to counter detectable threats to citizens’ liberties, including their freedom of speech. Perhaps, then, some leaders of the Labour Party do not view the prospect of a CCP takeover of UK classrooms with equanimity (The Times [UK], April 19, 2026).
Under a new complaints system to be brought into force in the coming academic year, the Office for Students, the higher education watchdog, will have enhanced powers to fine universities for breaching their duties under the Freedom of Speech Act. Institutions that fall short of their statutory duties could face penalties equivalent to the greater of £500,000 or 2 per cent of their income, which in the case of wealthier institutions could stretch to millions of pounds. The most wayward institutions could be threatened with deregistration and loss of public funding….
Arguably more important than the threat from censorious student activists is the covert influence exercised by hostile regimes over the direction of research and teaching at UK universities. Though Ms Phillipson does not mention it by name, the principal menace is China. In recent years Chinese agents have been implicated in the harassment of academics whose ideas they dislike. Visiting speakers have been threatened. Students from Hong Kong or mainland China self-censor to avoid repercussions at home. More insidiously, China exploits its financial leverage at British—universities to shape research. These trends are clearly unacceptable. The government hopes to start tackling the problem by introducing a reporting route by which hostile activities can be flagged. Here, too, it is a relief that Labour is finally waking up to the multiple threats to academic freedom.
As this passage suggests, the target of the proposed complaint system and remedies is any kind of attacks on freedom of speech and academic inquiry, of which there are plenty without the help of the Chinese Communist Party. But as it also suggests, the CCP’s interference in British academic life is hardly marginal.
Also see:
The Guardian: “China-backed centres at UK universities under threat from new free speech laws” (August 1, 2025)
“Universities fear that the new regulations imposed by the Office for Students this month will cause legal headaches with their Chinese partners, including the government in Beijing, and could lead to some being closed.” Terrible, if the purpose of the CCP-funded Confucius Institutes is only to “offer Mandarin classes and promote cultural events” and not, as “critics allege,” to “also act as a Trojan horse within the education system.”
Legislation.gov.uk: ”Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023”
“ ‘Academic freedom’, in relation to academic staff at a registered higher education provider, means their freedom within the law—(a) to question and test received wisdom, and (b) to put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions, without placing themselves at risk of being adversely affected in any of the ways described in subsection (7).”
