Chinese Embassy

Lord Purvis of Tweed Excerpts

Thursday 15th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, I do not want to disappoint the noble Lord, so I will say that it would not be appropriate to comment on a live planning application. He would expect me to say that and I say it on behalf of the whole Government, not just MHCLG. National security is the first duty of government more generally. All relevant planning considerations will be taken into account when making a decision in this case.

As the noble Lord knows, the Government regularly engage with representatives of foreign Governments, including the United States, to discuss a broad range of issues. Details of those discussions are not made public.

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree with me that it is a material circumstance that this will be the largest Communist Party of China building in Europe? It will co-ordinate transnational repression in the United Kingdom and espionage on an industrial scale, including electronic and human surveillance, and initiate bounties on British passport holders resident here in the United Kingdom. When the Prime Minister visits Beijing, instead of congratulating China on having planning approval for its embassy, should he not inform the Chinese authorities that we will put China on the foreign influence registration scheme, prosecute those putting bounties on British passport holders resident in the UK and tighten international repression laws here in the United Kingdom?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I understand noble Lords’ frustration about our not yet being able to answer some of the questions about which material considerations have been taken into account, but they will be when we determine the application. This is a decision for planning Ministers, independent of the rest of government. Planning Ministers must take decisions following the quasi-judicial process that is completely right and correct for those decisions and based on evidence and planning rules. On transnational repression, we will not tolerate attempts by foreign Governments to coerce, intimidate, harass or harm their critics overseas, especially in the United Kingdom.