Lord Walney
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(3 days, 20 hours ago)
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Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
The noble and learned Lord is tempting me to look at scenarios that may or may not occur. Any attempt by any foreign power to intimidate, harass and harm individuals or communities in the United Kingdom will not be tolerated. This Government will reflect on any actions like that, over and above the representations we have already made.
Lord Walney (CB)
But is there not a tension between the robust words that the Minister rightly uses and that the Home Secretary delivered to the Chinese nation and, for example, the Government’s decision, on returning from Beijing, to relax planning restrictions on China’s intended new embassy, which presumably houses and certainly plays a role in much of the malign activity that the Government are complaining about?
Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
The noble Lord will already know—but I will tell him anyway—that a final decision has yet to be made on the Chinese embassy. The Secretary of State for Local Government has an independent quasi-judicial role in making the final decision. The noble Lord will also know that the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary sent a joint letter to the Planning Inspectorate on 14 January, and the Home Office has considered the breadth of national security issues in relation to the planning application. I cannot determine that application, but I assure the noble Lord that the points he raised are being considered in that mechanism by government officials who have to make the decision.