As Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, I have today raised serious concerns about the Government’s handling of the proposed Chinese ‘super-embassy’ at Royal Mint Court. These concerns follow a high-level meeting I attended with senior U.S. security experts—including Rob Hargis and a former counterintelligence lead—during which significant national security risks were brought to light.
In response, I led a cross-party letter to the Prime Minister, calling for an immediate pause on the project and a full, independent security review.
While the letter received backing from 59 parliamentarians across both the Commons and the Lords and from multiple parties, not a single Labour MP signed it. That is deeply regrettable.
As I made clear to colleagues, this issue transcends party lines and demands a united front to defend our national interest. The absence of Labour support, given the scale of the threat outlined, is both puzzling and concerning. In moments like this, silence speaks volumes.
The letter outlines growing national security concerns, including those raised by recent cyberattacks, strategic foreign influence in UK infrastructure and the site’s proximity to the UK’s financial heartland, the City of London. It highlights several alarming features of the proposed embassy building, including a large basement with a security airlock, unmarked rooms and a tunnel—design elements previously rejected in similar contexts by other Western governments.
Rob Hargis, an International Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection expert, expressed these concerns directly, saying:
“Whether the intentions are to surveil, deny, degrade, disrupt, or destroy UK critical financial and telecom traffic, granting access to Beijing or ANY country for a facility let alone a super-embassy at this location is akin to throwing them the literal keys to the country.”
He added, “If I were asked to survey the most advantageous locations for close access to critical UK financial, data centre and telecommunications infrastructure, the Royal Mint site near the Tower Subway telecom crossing would be on my shortlist.”
We’ve already seen the risks of foreign state-linked entities gaining influence over critical UK infrastructure—Scunthorpe Steelworks is a prime example. To dismiss these warnings would be dangerously naive. The British public deserve to know that their government is taking the safeguarding of our sovereignty seriously.
More than 60 parliamentarians—including senior Conservatives, crossbench peers and members of other parties—have signed the letter, which urges the Prime Minister to halt the embassy development until a fully independent and transparent national security assessment has been completed.
This is not about being anti-China. It’s about protecting British interests and ensuring our democratic institutions are not undermined by covert influence. I urge the Government to act and urge Labour to re-evaluate its position.
