National security considerations ‘paramount’ in Chinese embassy decision – Reed

National security considerations will be “paramount” in deciding whether to approve a new Chinese embassy in London, the minister responsible has said.

Communities Secretary Steve Reed said he expected to see full, unredacted plans for the proposed site near the Tower of London before making his decision.

Drawings of the site originally submitted as part of the planning process contained blacked-out areas, fuelling suspicions from China hawks that Beijing intends to use the site as a base for espionage activities.

A decision is expected on October 21, although that could be pushed back with Mr Reed indicating it would come “within weeks”.

He told Times Radio: “I expect to see everything that is being proposed before I take a decision.”

Asked if the security risk posed by China would be a factor in the decision, he said: “Speaking in general terms, because I can’t comment on that particular application, then, yes, this Government recognises that China poses a threat to national security and we see that from various cyber attacks and cyber incidents that have happened.”

Pressed on whether the Government was prepared to put the economic benefits of its relationship with China ahead of security concerns, he said: “For this Government, as in for any sensible government of the United Kingdom, national security is paramount, and will always be paramount.

“The decision will be taken on the merits of the case in front of me, we would never compromise national security.”

Plans for the embassy were previously rejected by Tower Hamlets Council in 2022, with the Chinese opting not to appeal.

However, Beijing resubmitted the application a fortnight after Sir Keir Starmer’s election victory last year, believing Labour may be more receptive to the application, and the plans were called in so ministers would make the final decision.

The looming decision on the embassy comes as the Government faced continued pressure over its handling of the collapsed Chinese spying case.

Senior Conservatives have asked England’s chief prosecutor if the trial of two alleged Chinese spies could be resumed if the Government declares Beijing is a threat to national security.

The query, in a letter to director of public prosecutions (DPP) Stephen Parkinson, follows the collapse of the trial of Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry last month.

Both men, who deny wrongdoing, had been accused of passing secrets to China, but charges against them were dropped after the Government failed to provide evidence that would support the assertion that China represented a threat to national security.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp and shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart wrote the letter asking Mr Parkinson to confirm “if the Government were to provide the evidence that the Crown Prosecution Service had requested, this would enable you to restart the prosecution”.

The letter comes as the Tories seek to keep up the pressure on ministers over the collapse of the case.

Ministers have denied that the Labour Government was responsible for the decision to drop the charges against Mr Cash and Mr Berry, and blamed the Conservatives’ reluctance to designate China a threat while in office.

Mr Reed told BBC Breakfast: “The facts of this one actually seem pretty clear to me.

“The Crown Prosecution Service, which is an independent body that pursues prosecutions, as their name implies, asked the Government for evidence. That evidence was provided to the CPS, the CPS then independently took the decision that the evidence didn’t meet the threshold for prosecution under the law as it stood at the time.

“Now that law has since been strengthened, but it was under the previous Conservative government. Had they strengthened the law earlier, perhaps this case would have met the threshold.

“It didn’t, because they hadn’t changed the law. And it really is as simple as that.”

He denied that deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins, who provided the Government’s evidence to the CPS, had been made a scapegoat.

Asked whether Mr Collins was being “thrown under a bus”, Mr Reed told Times Radio: “I don’t think so at all, no.

“The House of Commons wanted more transparency, and they got it.

“No one said that Matthew Collins has done anything wrong at all. He provided the evidence he was asked for by the CPS and that’s the right thing to have done.”