Labour’s Net Zero drive will hand China power over the UK’s energy supplies because it relies on parts made only by firms controlled by Beijing, a former head of MI^ warns today.
Sir Richard Dearlove warned that all Chinese industry was ‘answerable to the leadership of the Communist Party’ after Rachel Reeves visited the Far East to boost relations and trade.
Ms Reeves met vice-president Han Zheng and vice-premier He Lifeng during the first high-level economic meeting between Britain and China since 2019.
She unveiled agreements worth £600 million over the next five years and said they represented ‘common ground being found on areas like financial services, trade, investment and the climate’.
Diplomats have also been wooing the Chinese wind industry. According to the Times, Geraldine McCafferty, the deputy head of Britain’s embassy in Beijing, told a conference last October that the UK ‘welcomes Chinese capital to enter the UK offshore wind power market, and the government is in discussion with leading Chinese wind power companies about investing in manufacturing or assembly plants in the UK.
However Sir Richard, who ran MI6 from 1999 to 2004, told the paper: ‘The fact of the matter is every Chinese industry is answerable to the leadership of the Communist party.
‘If the order is ”jump”, the response has to be ”how high”, they have no options to say no. That’s the difficulty behind the scenes.’
Sir Richard Dearlove warned that all Chinese industry was ‘answerable to the leadership of the Communist Party’ after Rachel Reeves visited the Far East to boost relations and trade.
Ms Reeves met vice-president Han Zheng and vice-premier He Lifeng (pictured) during the first high-level economic meeting between Britain and China since 2019.
She unveiled agreements worth £600 million over the next five years and said they represented ‘ common ground being found on areas like financial services, trade, investment and the climate’.
It came as the The Tories said the Chancellor had ‘come back with next to nothing’ from her trip to Beijing, which she ploughed ahead with despite fresh alarm at her economic plans.
Ms Reeves’ trip to China amid UK market turmoil was in the ‘national interest’, a senior Cabinet minister said this morning.
Asked by BBC Breakfast if the Chancellor was right to make the journey, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said: ‘Definitely.’
He added: ‘I think the people saying she shouldn’t have gone are wrong and making a bad mistake.
‘It is absolutely right for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for the chief economic voice in the United Kingdom, to go and to beat the drum for British business and for investment in the United Kingdom.
‘It was in the national interest that the Chancellor went to China, and that is why it is absolutely right that she went.’
The Pound was also down further against the US dollar this morning
The interest rate on 10-year gilts – a main way the government borrows money – was up again this morning
The UK was battered by the markets again today as ministers were warned they must find ‘ruthless’ spending curbs.
The government’s borrowing costs rose further in early trading, while the Pound lost more ground against the dollar.
The grim signs came as businesses blame Rachel Reeves’ huge Budget tax raid for crushing economic growth.
CBI chief Rupert Soames said ‘confidence and trust’ had been ‘bruised’ by the Chancellor and firms will have to hike prices and cut jobs.
Analysts have been warning that Ms Reeves – who is returning from a trade trip to China – will be forced to rip up her spending plans as a result of the backlash.
Treasury Chief Secretary Darren Jones has written to colleagues laying out the urgent need for efficiencies.
Keir Starmer is giving a speech this morning in which he will insist mass deployment of AI can save the taxpayer huge sums.
