Angela Rayner must “put our security first” and block plans for a Chinese ‘mega embassy’ in London.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick warned that Beijing isn’t “even disguising their plans to develop a massive spy hub”.
The Deputy Prime Minister will make the final decision on the proposal to turn the former Royal Mint building into Europe’s largest embassy.
The plan was rejected by Tower Hamlets council before Ms Rayner called the plans in.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick declared: “The Chinese aren’t even disguising their plans to develop a massive spy hub.
“MI5 say Beijing is committing espionage against us on an ‘epic scale’. Yet Starmer continues to suck up to Xi Jinping. Angela Rayner must put our security first and block this planning application.
“In March 2020 the Irish government revoked an approved planning application for a massive expansion of the Russian Embassy, saying it was “likely to be harmful to the security and defence of the State and the State’s relations with other states.
“We should do the same.”
Xi Jinping’s government resubmitted the application – which had been blocked by the Conservatives – after Labour came to power last July.
The proposed site for the embassy, near the Tower of London, is located close to critical communication cables, the I has reported.
The Chinese Communist Party wants to turn 20,000 square metres (2 hectares) of land into Europe’s largest embassy building.
After China bought the site in 2018, Tower Hamlets Council refused its planning permission in 2022 due to a range of concerns, including the impact of large protests at the site. The security services are also understood to have raised concerns about the site.
And the US Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party has warned that the project poses threats ranging from “interference and surveillance to risks for sensitive infrastructure like London’s financial services”.
In a post on X, the committee said: “We must work to urgently address this issue and work with our allies to protect national security.”
The plans are edging closer to being given the green light, despite the security concerns, as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer attempts to forge closer ties with China.
The Prime Minister signalled in December that he hoped the scheme would go ahead. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Foreign Secretary David Lammy have both indicated their support for the controversial scheme.
They said in a letter last month that it was important for countries to have “functioning diplomatic premises in each other’s capitals”.
The Chinese Government bought the former Royal Mint seven years ago to create one of the largest embassies in the world.
Luke de Pulford, who is executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said: “To the long list of problems associated with this disastrous embassy idea, we can now add alienating our most powerful ally.
“It’s highly unusual for foreign lawmakers to intervene in something like this. The fact that Congress is willing to make its views known shows how serious an error this would be for the Government.”
