Starmer to face MPs amid continued pressure over collapse of China spying trial – UK politics live | Politics

Good morning. Like Kiran Stacey The government today announced new plans to relax planning rules that delay the construction of new infrastructure, according to reports. There is already a bill through parliament, the planning and infrastructure bill, designed to do this, but just as the bill is getting closer to reaching the point where it will clear both houses and become law, the government has drafted the bill. a series of changes this will make it stronger.

For this reason Steve ReedThe housing secretary is holding a media event this morning. But inevitably most of the questions focused on China.

Yesterday, in a special reporting question in the House of Lords and in a ministerial statement in the House of Commons, the government sought to dispel allegations that it had deliberately sabotaged the trial of two men who should have been tried for allegedly spying for China. Like Dan Sabbagh It explains why the various ministers and officials who commented yesterday failed to adequately explain why the case could not proceed.

Keir Starmer is expected to speak in the House of Commons today, but his statement is expected to cover the Middle East peace process and his trip to India, so MPs may struggle to shoehorn questions about China.

But on the media tour, reed They could not avoid the questions because they were off topic. He reiterated the government’s claim that the decision to drop the prosecution was taken by the Crown Prosecution Service, not ministers; because the law in force at the time the alleged crimes were committed was too restrictive to allow a successful prosecution to proceed.

As housing secretary, Reed will have the final say on whether to approve China’s application to build a new “super embassy” in central London. A decision will be made at the end of this month. There was a delay because China refused to provide unedited plans for the building (the original plans did not specify what specific rooms in the embassy would be used for), and Reed said he would not approve the application without seeing all the plans.

I expect to see everything suggested before making a decision.

More importantly, he insisted that national security would be “at the forefront” of the decision-making process.

Speaking to Times Radio, he was asked whether he posed a security risk. Chinese Reed said this may have been a factor in the decision:

Generally speaking, yes, this government accepts it as I cannot comment on the practice in question Chinese We also see from various cyber attacks and cyber incidents that it poses a threat to national security. This is one of the reasons why the government increased security and defense spending by £600.

He was asked whether the government was prepared to demonstrate the economic benefits of a relationship. Chinese Prior to security concerns, Reed said:

For this government, as for any sensible government of the United Kingdom, national security is and always will be paramount. The case before me will be decided on its merits, we will never compromise on national security,

Here is the agenda of the day.

Morning: Keir Starmer chair cabinet.

10am: Reform UK leader Nigel Farage will address the media at Southwark crown court following the sentencing of Afghan Fayaz Khan, who arrived in the UK on a small boat and was found guilty of threatening to kill himself.

11.30: Energy secretary Ed Miliband answers questions in the House of Commons.

After 12.30: Starmer is expected to make a statement to MPs regarding the Middle East peace summit and his trip to India.

14:00: The IMF is publishing its latest world economic outlook report, including its latest forecasts for the UK.

15.45: Miliband speaking at the Energy UK conference.

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