British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has faced backlash over his trip to China amid claims that the UK government has been “tricked” by Beijing.
Conservative former security minister Tom Tugendhat raised the issue of Chinese sanctions on British parliamentarians after Starmer announced that “all restrictions” had been lifted on current members.
Tugendhat, former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, Senior Deputy Speaker Nusrat Ghani and Conservative former minister Neil O’Brien were among those banned from entering China, Hong Kong and Macau in 2021.
Their property in China was also frozen and Chinese citizens and institutions were prohibited from doing business with them – but these sanctions no longer apply to current parliamentarians.
Addressing House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, Tugendhat said: “Do you not find it as surprising as I do, that the prime minister has come back with a deal that lifts the sanctions on those six of us who are still in this house but not the one who isn’t, nor the lawyers, advisers and academics who support the work of this house.
“Is this not a direct affront to the democracy of this place, an attempt to divide and conquer that we’ve seen China play against the European Parliament, and sadly has tricked our government, too.”
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