The Labour government’s refusal to describe China as a national security threat has reinforced its already softened approach to Beijing, critics say, after the prosecution of two Britons accused of spying for China was dropped last week.
Before the election, Labour had promised to declare China’s repression of Uyghur Muslims as genocide, and MPs united to support a genocide amendment to a 2021 trade bill. But in October 2024, Labour backtracked on that commitment before a visit to Beijing by then foreign secretary David Lammy.
Critics accuse Labour of hastily pursuing a return to the “golden era” rapprochement led by David Cameron in 2015, which collapsed after China crushed Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and engaged in cyber espionage. Luke de Pulford, director of the International Parliamentary Alliance on China, said: “In opposition, there was a strong sense of moral conviction on Labour party policy on China. Now that seems to have fallen by the wayside.”
Threats from China have continued. The Electoral Commission said it took three years to recover from a Chinese hack between 2021 and 2022 that accessed 40 million voter details. MI5 warned in October 2023 that an estimated 20,000 Britons had been approached by Chinese state actors on LinkedIn to steal industrial secrets. Over a quarter of a million military payroll records were compromised by Chinese hackers in May 2024.
Keir Starmer’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, a political appointee and former chief of staff to Tony Blair, has been central to the shift. Powell visited Beijing in July 2025, meeting China’s foreign affairs minister Wang Yi. Chancellor Rachel Reeves visited in January 2025 and secured pledges of £600m investment over five years, though some specialists argued that was a poor return.
