China has lifted sanctions on six serving British MPs and peers, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer confirmed on Friday, following his talks with President Xi Jinping in Beijing. The sanctions, imposed in 2021 as retaliation for UK measures over human rights abuses in Xinjiang, had barred the parliamentarians from entering China and frozen any assets they held there.
However, the affected MPs and peers condemned the move as “selective”, noting that an academic, a barrister and a former Tory MP remain under sanctions. In a joint statement, they said: “We would rather remain under sanction indefinitely than have our status used as a bargaining chip to justify lifting British sanctions on those officials responsible for the genocide in Xinjiang.” They also expressed solidarity with their families and civil society organisations still targeted by Beijing.
Starmer said he raised the sanctions issue during his visit and that President Xi made clear the restrictions no longer apply. “I think that shows that if you engage, you can raise the difficult issues,” Starmer told broadcasters. The prime minister also opened the door to a UK visit by Xi, suggesting he would be welcome at the G20 summit hosted by Britain in 2027.
The five Conservative MPs originally sanctioned were Iain Duncan Smith, Tom Tugendhat, Nusrat Ghani, Neil O’Brien and Tim Loughton. The two peers were crossbencher Lord Alton and Labour’s Baroness Kennedy. The sanctions were a response to UK measures against Chinese officials over Xinjiang atrocities; those UK sanctions remain in place.
Starmer downplayed comments by US President Donald Trump, who described the UK’s engagement with China as “very dangerous”. Starmer suggested Trump was referring to Canada rather than the UK.
