‘NIGHTMARE for Britain!’ Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves accused of ‘cosying up’ to China leaving Labour MPs ‘deeply concerned’

Iain Duncan Smith tells GB News some Labour MPs are WORRIED about Labour's China plans

GB NEWS
Ben Chapman

By Ben Chapman


Published: 02/02/2025

- 10:48

Labour's top brass are said to have backed plans to build a new mega embassy for China

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are “cosying up” to China to an extent that many Labour MPs are now deeply concerned, according to Iain Duncan Smith.

The ex-Tory leader hit out at plans to use a London mega-site to build a new Chinese embassy.


Speaking on GB News, Duncan Smith said the idea is the “biggest kowtow in British history” in a scathing criticism of the Labour Government.

“It will be us on bended knee, maybe on our faces saying to China ‘please, please, please, give us some trade’”, he said.

Iain Duncan Smith, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves

Iain Duncan Smith is concerned about Labour's top brass 'cosying up' to China

GB NEWS / PA

“They’re not going to do anything by that. They’re about to dump cheap, electric cars on the UK market.

“We have become absolutely facile. I worry about it enormously. I said to the government you’re taking the wrong course, it doesn’t work with China.

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“China doesn’t care about the UK. They just want to grow and be dominant.”

In plans branded a “nightmare” by the senior Tory MP, the super embassy would be developed on the site of the Royal Mint in London.

He told Camilla Tominey: “There are underground cables going past. We know none of the local residents in Tower Hamlets want it.

“We know the council doesn’t want it. We know there are 2,000 British citizens living in the grounds that would become Chinese territory, this would be a nightmare.

“They would literally be governed under Chinese law.”

Despite local opposition, David Lammy and Yvette Cooper have given their seal of approval for Beijing’s bid for the new ‘super-embassy’.

The Cabinet ministers backed the project shortly after Rachel Reeves returned from a trip to China last month, claiming that approval of the proposed embassy would help bolster diplomatic ties.

Despite plans being ushered through by Labour’s top brass, Duncan Smith says many on the Labour backbench harbour concerns about the party’s direction with regards to the Xi Jinping-led superpower.

“They’re [Angela Rayner and Keir Starmer] are in the game of cosying up to China”, he said on the People’s Channel.

“I know lots of Labour MPs that are deeply worried about their position over China. Lots of them.

“I started the Inter-parliamentary Alliance on China and we have a lot of Labour MPs involved. They are very worried about this.

“This is not a case of the Tories attacking Labour.”

GB News has approached the Foreign Office for comment.

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