A Labour peer against whom sanctions have been lifted by China during Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to Beijing says the move is a “meagre return” from the trip.
Baroness Helena Kennedy KC was among seven parliamentarians sanctioned by China in 2021 for accusing the country of human rights abuses against the Uyghur minority.
The prime minister announced the sanctions had been lifted after talks with President Xi Jinping.
But Baroness Kennedy said that raising the case of Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai was more important than lifting the sanctions. The media tycoon, a British citizen, was found guilty of colluding with foreign forces under a controversial national security law.
…
The peer said she had not yet been briefed on what discussions had taken place about the case of Lai but she told the BBC she “was hoping that we might hear some good news on that front”.
The prime minister has confirmed to the BBC that he did raise the Lai case and the treatment of Uyghurs “as you would expect” with President Xi.
The original group of seven to be sanctioned were all vocal critics of China as members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, although former Conservative MP Tim Loughton stood down at the last election.
Baroness Kennedy, a former colleague of Sir Keir Starmer when he was a lawyer, and crossbencher Lord Alton were sanctioned alongside four sitting Conservative MPs - Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Nusrat Ghani, Tom Tugendhat and Neil O’Brien.
They have criticised the “selective lifting of sanctions”, saying they would “take no comfort” in China’s decision while Lai remains imprisoned and Uyghurs continue to suffer.
…