B

Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent) (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 8 December 2025

Debate

Official Secrets Act and Espionage

Contribution

I thank the noble Baroness for her questions. I join her in thanking the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy for its scrutiny and its work in shining some light—where there has been a great deal of heat—on what actually happened. On the key points that she has raised, we will reflect on the committee’s findings and I look forward to debating them with her across this Dispatch Box in due course when we come forward with our response to the report. I remind her of the Prime Minister’s comments at the Lady Mayor’s banquet last Monday about our position: China “poses real national security threats to the United Kingdom … It’s time for a serious approach, to reject the simplistic binary choice. Neither golden age, nor ice age”. He said: “So our response will not be driven by fear, nor softened by illusion. It will be grounded in strength, clarity and sober realism”.

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