David Lammy and Yvette Cooper have personally intervened in a planning application for a new Chinese “super-embassy” in the heart of London.
In a new letter to the Planning Inspectorate, the Foreign and Home Secretaries have set out their clear support for the new building – a conversion of the old Royal Mint site, on the doorstep of the Tower of London.
In the letter, seen by the Financial Times, the duo both talk up the importance of both Britain and China “having functioning diplomatic premises” as Labour continues its so-called “relations reset” with the world’s second-largest economy.
Cooper and Lammy’s letter also confirms that – despite the objections of top Tories – the Metropolitan Police has withdrawn its objection to the proposals.
The Foreign and Home Secretaries have set out their clear support for the new building
PA
But the pair have also laid out a number of conditions for China’s new build.
If Beijing is to have its way, it must change a “small element” of design on security grounds, removing “unregulated public access” from the site, and give up the diplomatic accreditation of seven other premises in London.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has laid into the letter – he wrote on social media: “Another day, another capitulation.
“Just this week it emerged our intelligence agencies warned of sensitive cabling directly under this site.”
LATEST AS LABOUR WRESTLES WITH CHINA:
A cross-party group of MPs had also written to the Planning Inspectorate just days ago to warn: “The proposed site sits over sensitive communication cabling, power lines, and is positioned directly adjacent to a key motorway artery.
“Following a series of successful attacks on US telecoms infrastructure attributed to China, these are not trivial considerations.
“Beijing has shown itself willing to attempt to compromise communications and other critical infrastructure, and must not be allowed easy access by being granted permission to develop this location.”
‘It’s now painfully clear that the Government is desperate to approve the Chinese application, under pressure from Beijing,’ Luke de Pulford said
TREASURY
A UK security source who read the original intelligence report told the i newspaper that there were “real concerns” over the super-embassy – including giving Chinese diplomats the chance to disrupt critical communications cables.
But China hit back to those claims, calling them “totally groundless and unreliable”, while a spokesman for the embassy claimed that “anti-China elements are always keen on fabricating facts, slandering and attacking China”.
Cooper and Lammy’s letter comes just days after Rachel Reeves returned from Beijing with an investment package worth £600million – raising eyebrows from China critics including Luke de Pulford, the co-founder of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.
“It’s now painfully clear that the Government is desperate to approve the Chinese application, under pressure from Beijing,” he said.
A Government spokesperson said: “National security is the first duty of government. It has been our core priority throughout this process.
“That is why the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Home Office submitted written representations to reflect these considerations and to note the importance of all states having functioning diplomatic premises in each other’s capitals.”