Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of a network of “secret Chinese police stations” in the UK used by the government of China to identify political dissidents; and what steps they plan to take, if any, to shut them down.

We continually assess potential threats in the UK, and take protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously.

Attempts by foreign Governments to coerce, intimidate, harass or harm their critics overseas, undermining democracy and the rule of law, are unacceptable.

The Security Minister made a statement on the issue of transnational repression to the House on 1 November. As he said to the House, reports of undeclared ‘police stations’ in the UK are of course very concerning and are taken extremely seriously. Any foreign country operating on UK soil must abide by UK law. This Government is committed to tackling this challenge wherever it originates. An internal review into transnational repression is underway and the House will be updated on progress in due course.

More broadly, we are driving forward work to protect the democratic integrity of the UK, including from threats of foreign interference, through the Defending Democracy Taskforce.