Beijing should be banished from vital British businesses (2025)

Labour must kick the Chinese out of critical UK national infrastructure, campaigners have urged.

The fiasco at British Steel prompted MPs, peers and experts to insist last night that it is time for ministers to get tough to stop another crisis.

The Government was forced to take direct control of the business after concerns that Jingye, its Chinese owners, would close down the blast furnaces at the Scunthorpe plant. They are the last functioning furnaces in the country.

Ministers feared the company planned to 'sabotage' the site to increase British reliance on cheap Chinese imports.

But yesterday the Government appeared to cosy up to Beijing – with Treasury minister James Murray claiming China was 'not a hostile state'.

And No 10 dismissed reports of feared sabotage, saying the Government had a 'rigorous regime' for assessing the role of China within business.

Downing Street also refused to rule out working with Beijing again as they look for a private sector partner to co-invest in the Scunthorpe site.

But Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse, who was refused entry to Hong Kong last week, stated it was 'naive' to allow British Steel to be sold to Chinese owners in the first place.

And she suggested the UK risked 'falling into the arms of false friends' without scrutiny of London's relationship with Beijing.

Her warning was echoed by scores of other China critics, including Tory grandee Sir Iain Duncan Smith who urged the Government to 'stop this project kowtow'. He insisted ministers must ban China from critical infrastructure.

'We have to bar them from it. Find alternative investors and kick them out. You can't be soft with them – you have to be very clear.'

Sir Iain claimed that former prime minister Clement Attlee 'would be turning in his grave' and added of the man who was also leader of Labour Party from 1935 to 1955 that he was someone 'who really did care about the UK and its independence'.

Luke de Pulford, from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), said the Government needed to extract Chinese influence from key industries.

He added: 'The UK is like a moth to a flame when it comes to Chinese investment. You have to wonder what China has to do for the UK to wake up to the risks of opening our critical infrastructure to our biggest security threat.

'Beijing isn't going to rescue the UK economy. Their investment in the UK is likely to be small, strategic and not in the interests of UK national security.

'Politicians from all parties bear equal blame for this mess and it's about time they held up their hands, admitted they got it wrong and came forward with a plan to get the Chinese Communist Party out of our key industries.' Beijing has a stake in a number of sectors, including Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, Heathrow and Thames Water as well as in solar panels and wind farms.

Labour peer Baroness Kennedy, who co-chairs IPAC, said of China: 'There should be a review of all the companies that are involved and the ways in which that could be happening.'

Bob Seely, former Tory MP and foreign affairs expert, added: 'China should be nowhere near UK critical infrastructure. We must stop being so naive. China is a communist dictatorship.' Asked if a Chinese company could be involved in investment in British Steel in the future, Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman said: 'I'm not going to get ahead of future commercial negotiations.'

Yesterday Beijing accused the UK of 'politicising' trade cooperation, and suggested its companies could be put off investing in Britain if they were not treated 'fairly'.

The Chinese foreign ministry said: 'We hope the British Government treats Chinese enterprises fairly and justly, protects their rights and interests, and avoids politicising and over-securitising trade cooperation, so as not to affect the confidence of Chinese enterprises in investing in the UK.'

The Chinese embassy said it was following developments over the Scunthorpe plant 'closely' and that it was a fact that British steel firms had faced difficulties.

The PM's spokesman said: 'We already have a rigorous regime for assessing any involvement in critical national infrastructure, that includes looking at the role of China in our supply chains and investment infrastructure.'

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