Ministers have been accused of privately approving Beijing’s bid to build a mega-embassy in the heart of London before the official process began. A senior Tory has alleged that ministers privately gave China the green light- raising fears the final call is now “unlawful” and could be thrown out in court. Shadow Housing Secretary Kevin Hollinrake has written to the Cabinet Secretary demanding the controversial application be halted and restarted. He said: “There is a clear case that the Government codes and guidance have been breached, and Government Ministers have acted unlawfully.
“In turn, that opens the Government up to a judicial review. This will be expensive and reputationally damaging to the UK Government. I would therefore ask that the planning process is halted and started afresh from scratch.”
Plans for a Chinese super-embassy in central London have become a “walk of shame” for the Government, former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said.
Sir Iain referred to the warnings reportedly issued by the White House and Dutch government to Downing Street over the plans, which are set to be scrutinised by ministers.
Sir Keir Starmer and Xi Jinping met at the G20 meeting in November while Chancellor Rachel Reeves visited China in January
Luke de Pulford, head of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said: “If assurances over the mega-embassy have been given to Beijing, the whole process should be aborted and a public inquiry announced.
“Beijing said themselves they would not apply again unless given the green light by government, and those of us opposing the plan have often felt like planning law was just window dressing for a done deal.
“Time to drag this murky embassy business into the light.”
The worries stem from the close proximity of the proposed embassy’s Royal Mint Court site to data centres and communication cables.
The Sunday Times reported the US was “deeply concerned” about the plans, quoting a senior US official.
Planning minister Matthew Pennycook said he could not give a full response as the matter was still to come before the department for a decision, and any verdict could be challenged by the courts.
Top barrister Richard Harwood KC told The Sun the process could now be challenged in court if ministers gave the impression it was a done deal.
He said: “If the judge thinks that the government have given impression that they just want to approve it for political, in terms of international political reasons, rather than the planning merits and we were signalling that to the Chinese government in advance, then there’s clearly a strong chance that the court would find that is unlawful.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) said: “Planning casework decisions are a matter for MHCLG.
“Ministers hold a quasi-judicial role in the planning process and adhere to the published propriety guidance when taking decisions.”