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Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 2 February 2026

Debate

China: Human Rights and UK National Security

Contribution

My Lords, with respect to the Minister, when we all voted on a number of occasions for trade agreements to have human rights clauses, we did so because we wanted that to be the law applying to all Governments. It is a great sadness to hear the Minister say that the Labour Party took that position then simply to make a point rather than thinking that that was how our trade agreements should be framed. Can the Minister confirm that, when the Government announce that there is to be a feasibility study on a free trade agreement on services with China, that feasibility study will take into account human rights? If it does not, a Labour Government putting in train a trade agreement whereby MI5 and our security services have indicated that there is an ongoing national security risk will be opening up an area of deep regret. The agreement also indicated that education and skills will be opened up for China. Equally, we know that MI5 has warned us all that that is the source of a major part of China’s influence, so why are the Government refusing to put China on the foreign influence registration scheme, as it should be?
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