Calls for government statement or urgent question in Commons on activities of ‘H6’
Good morning. MPs are pushing for a government statement, or an urgent question (UQ), in the Commons this afternoon that would cover the activities of “H6”, the alleged Chinese spy who befriended Prince Andrew. As Peter Walker reports, Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader and prominent China hawk who has said he is tabling a UQ, told the Today programme this morning that H6 might just be “the top of the iceberg” in terms of Beijing’s efforts to infiltrate the UK. Here is Peter’s story.
And here is Archie Bland’s First Edition briefing on the story, including further information about who H6 is.
The media cannot name H6 because of a court order. In parliament MPs have absolute privilege, which means they can ignore a court order like this without having to worry about being prosecuted for contempt of court, and there has been speculation that an MP might use privilege to identify H6 this afternoon. But there is no free-for-all in the House of Commons, the Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, generally tries to stop MPs ignoring court orders of this kind and he has a lot of leeway to constrain debate. He also gets to decide whether a UQ is granted, and normally he works on the basis that if an MP is telling the media first that they are applying for a UQ, that is a reason for not allowing it. It is quite possible we might get to the end of the day without this coming up in the chamber at all.
But Keir Starmer won’t be able to avoid questions on this. He is in Norway, where he is due to speak to reporters later this morning, and he is bound to be asked about H6.
Starmer may also be asked about why the government is delaying implementing the foreign influence registration scheme (FIRS). This measure was part of the National Security Act 2023 but has still not been enacted. It requires people working on behalf of foreign governments in the UK to register. But it also includes an “enhanced tier”, posing tougher requirements on people working on behalf of states seen as posing more of risk. The government cannot set the scheme up without deciding whether or not to include China in the “enhanced tier” and this decision is problematic. Security experts say China should obviously in this category, as the H6 story illustrates. But China would view this as an insult, and categorising it alongside Russia, Iran etc might kibosh Starmer’s efforts to improve economic relations with Beijing.
The Home Office has been saying it has had to delay implementation of FIRS because the legislation was not left in a fit state. But this morning Duncan Smith told the Today programme that he did not believe that, and that the government was just making up an excuse to avoid offending China.
He also told the programme that the UK was seen by allies as the “soft underbelly” because of its reluctance to confront China.
There is nothing wrong with the foreign influence registration scheme. ‘It’s not fit for purpose’, I don’t believe a word of that, nobody with half a brain will believe a word of that. The reality is, it’s an excuse not to upset China.
We are now seen, I think, by our five eyes security partners, as the soft underbelly of that alliance and that’s a real worry.
The last Conservative government was also criticised for delaying the implementation of FIRS.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10.30am: Keir Starmer is due to hold a press conference in Norway with his Norwegian counterpart, Jonas Gahr Støre. He is in the country to launch a green industrial partnership. Later he will be travelling to Estonia.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
1.50pm: Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, gives a speech in Leeds giving details of her devolution white paper for England.
2.30pm: Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
2.40pm: Kemi Badenoch gives a speech on Labour’s economic policies at an event organised by opponents of the government’s plans to extend inheritance tax to farms.
4.30pm: David Lammy, the foreign secretary, and John Healey, the defence secretary, speak at a press conference after an Aukus summit held with their Australian counterparts.
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