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Sir Keir Starmer’s Government Is Has the decision on this been postponed? To allow China a new London “super embassy”.
The planning decision for the proposed site near the Tower of London was called for ministers to make a final decision and was expected to take place on 21 October.
But the time limit for Housing and Planning Secretary steve reed Amidst increasing pressure, the date of decision has been postponed till December 10. Prime Minister On his attitude towards China.
China’s plans to build a large embassy near the Tower of London have been surrounded by controversy since 2018; No final decision has been taken as it has been repeatedly delayed. China purchased the 20,000 square meter premises at the Royal Mint Court at the time for £255 million.
China’s supporters in Westminster have raised concerns that the embassy site could be used for surveillance from British soil.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners, as well as Uighurs and Tibetans, fear that the embassy move could lead to threats and retaliation from the Chinese state.
The delay has been caused by a change at the top of the department responsible for planning matters, with Mr Reid taking over from Angela Rayner when she was forced to step down.
The super-embassy plan was previously rejected by Tower Hamlets Council in 2022, with the Chinese choosing not to appeal.
However, Beijing resubmitted the application a fortnight after Sir Keir Starmer’s election victory last year, believing Labor might be more receptive to the application.
Since entering office, Sir Keir’s government has sought to forge closer ties with Beijing after cooling off during the final years of Conservative Party rule.
The Joint Committee on National Security Strategy (JCNSS) wrote to the minister on Monday, saying approving the embassy at the proposed site near the Tower of London “is not in the long-term interests of the UK”.
Committee chair Matt Western MP wrote to Mr Reid saying the proposed location presented “a risk of concealment in peacetime and a risk of sabotage in crisis” due to its proximity to Canary Wharf and fibre-optic cables, data centers and telecoms exchanges serving the city.
They also noted reports of plans for basement rooms and tunnels, and security services have warned that allowing Beijing to set up the largest embassy in Europe would create a hub for the country to expand its “intelligence-gathering and intimidation operations”.
The decision on the embassy was made amid an ongoing investigation into how the government and the Crown Prosecution Service handled the collapsed Chinese espionage case. Critics say the current focus on the case and China’s spying in Britain has delayed a decision on the plan.
Mr Western said the case was a recent reminder of the scale of China’s alleged illegal activities.
They added, “We urge you to accept that approving this decision is not in the UK’s long-term interests, and the consequences of such a site will be very difficult to handle if relations with Beijing deteriorate in the future.”
“We therefore urge the Government to keep long-term national security at the forefront of its decision-making, and this should be reflected in your response to the embassy planning application.
“The UK’s security and economic resilience will be negatively impacted if the plans are allowed to proceed as currently proposed.”
Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverley said the government had “actively sought to silence warnings about threats to national security from mega-embassies”.
Mr Cleverly said: “If Keir Starmer had any spine, he would ensure his government rejected this appalling application – as Ireland and Australia did when they faced similar embassy development proposals from Russia.”