CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

HOME AFFAIRS – CHINESE COMMUNIST THREATS - 03 December 2025

HOME AFFAIRS – CHINESE COMMUNIST THREATS - 03 December 2025

Sir Julian Lewis: Having previously read out in this Chamber the relevant section of the Official Secrets Act 1911, I am pleased that the report concludes that the decision not to prosecute under the terms of that Act flies in the face of common sense. What also flies in the face of common sense is the Government’s previous position that China poses a range of serious threats but does not constitute a threat itself. Is that still the Government’s position?

[The Minister for Security (Dan Jarvis): The right hon. Gentleman knows that I always listen assiduously to what he has to say, given the experience that he brings to this House. I am certain that he will have looked very carefully at what the Prime Minister said in his Mansion House speech on Monday evening, but on the off-chance that he has not yet had the opportunity to do so, let me tell him and the House the essence of what the Prime Minister said with regard to China, because he very clearly set out the Government’s approach. He said that China

“poses real national security threats to the United Kingdom”,

but that it is

“time for a serious approach, to reject the simplistic binary choice. Neither golden age, nor ice age…So our response will not be driven by fear, nor softened by illusion. It will be grounded in strength, clarity and sober realism.”

I agree with the Prime Minister, and I suspect that most sensible Members of this House do as well.]