Some Labour Members of Parliament would rather the United Kingdom not leap into the maw of the Chinese Communist Party to be chewed up and regurgitated as seems to be the plan under the Starmer-Lammy government. They are urging their leaders to stop being so naive and accommodating (PoliticsHome, May 20, 2025).
Instead of “thawing” relations with China, the incumbent Labour government “should be withdrawing from China, recognizing they are an enemy of this country in a very real sense,” argues Labour MP Graham Stringer. “Our energy policy is vulnerable to them, and it is also supporting their economy. Saying we should get closer to them is self-destructive….”
Stringer also wants the government to prevent China from obtaining critical infrastructure that could be used to silence anti-CCP activists in the UK.
Countering the threat
Another Labour MP, Luke Akehurst, says that national security should not be sacrificed to short-term economic objectives. “From critical national infrastructure and political freedoms to R&D and intellectual property, we know that China is seeking to exert influence in the UK and we should be stepping up our efforts to counter it.”
“As a nation, we need to be crystal clear about the threat posed by China,” says Labour MP Connor Rand. “Many of the Hong Kong diaspora who now live in my constituency know this threat all too well. They live in fear of the long arm of the Chinese state, which continues to harass and intimidate them. We need more action to tackle transnational repression, and I hope this is reflected in the government’s upcoming audit of UK-China relations.”
PoliticsHome reports that these and other Members of Parliament are “concerned that the Chinese government can wage influence in Britain by using private companies as a proxy to embed themselves in key national infrastructure such as energy. Businesses by law must alert the government if a CCP-backed company or individual is expected to own 25 per cent through an investment. Both LCHR and LFPG are calling for this threshold to be significantly lowered to at least 10 to 15 per cent.”
LCHR is the Labour Campaign for Human Rights. LFPG is the Labour Foreign Policy Group. A new report co-published by these two organizations diagnoses the problem of CCP influence, harassment, and coercion in Britain and suggests ways to counter these.
Also see:
LFPG and LCHR: China’s Challenge to Britain’s Economic and Political Security
