Chinese Embassy

Esther McVey Excerpts

Tuesday 20th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

I am grateful, as always, to the right hon. Gentleman—

[Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

No, you’re not.

[Dan Jarvis]

I genuinely am, because I respect the wisdom of someone who has served in this House for many years. The right hon. Lady questions my gratitude to the right hon. Gentleman. I can give her an assurance that I have a huge amount of respect—

[Esther McVey]

Answer the question!

[Dan Jarvis]

I am answering the question. I have a huge amount of respect for Members who have served for a long time, and particularly those who have chaired the ISC. We need to find a mechanism to ensure that Members like the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis) have access to some of this information, so that they can make informed comments in this House. I take his point, although I do not agree with it, about mitigations. He understands that there are limits to what I can say on the mitigations. On his substantive point, I do not agree with him that this is a win for China, not least because I could not have been clearer about the importance of the consolidation of the estate. The Government have reached an agreement with China that the existing diplomatic footprint in London will be reduced in size from seven diplomatic sites to one. I am not sure that that constitutes a particularly big win in my book—

--- Later in debate ---

[Dan Jarvis]

I always listen carefully to the right hon. Gentleman, not least because I seem to remember that he was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the then Prime Minister, Lord Cameron, whose Government had quite a different relationship with China from the one we have now. He will remember that very well, as do I. While I am grateful for his advice, I hope he has borne in mind the points I made about the consistency of the previous Government, including the one he served in.

[Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

In the light of what you have said, Madam Deputy Speaker, I hope that you see this as short question and I hope that I get a short answer.

Does the Minister know if the security services have any concerns at all about the proposed new Chinese super-embassy—yes or no?

[Dan Jarvis]

The right hon. Lady has seen the letter that has been published today by the director general—

[Esther McVey]

Yes or no?

[Dan Jarvis]

I do not know how much time the right hon. Lady spends thinking about matters relating to national security or understands the nature of the—

[Esther McVey]

That is condescending!

[Dan Jarvis]

Not at all—I am seeking to explain to her that this Government, like the last Government, manage a range of national security risks. That would be the case whatever decision was taken around this proposal.