Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of appeasing Beijing by waving through plans for a new Chinese ‘super-embassy’ in London which will include ‘spy dungeons’ in the heart of the City.
Planning documents for the controversial embassy on the site of the Royal Mint buildings include ‘two suites of anonymous unlabelled basement rooms and a tunnel’, with their exact purpose ‘redacted for security reasons’.
The plan for the embassy, close to the Tower of London, was blocked by the previous government after British intelligence agencies and Scotland Yard objected on the grounds that sensitive data cables that run nearby could be vulnerable to attack by Chinese spies.
But the application was revived in the run-up to Chancellor Rachel Reeves‘ visit to China in January, with president Xi Jinping said to have lobbied for it personally.
Downing Street has refused to disclose whether it is backing the embassy plans to boost trading relations with the Chinese amid the global turmoil caused by Donald Trump‘s tariff war.
The row comes against the backdrop of a growing Cabinet split over whether to place China on an official list of hostile states, alongside Iran and Russia.
Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of appeasing Beijing by waving through plans for a new Chinese ‘super-embassy’ in London which will include ‘spy dungeons’ in the heart of the City. Pictured: Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves
Planning documents for the controversial embassy on the site of the Royal Mint buildings include ‘two suites of anonymous unlabelled basement rooms and a tunnel’, with their exact purpose ‘redacted for security reasons’. Pictured: Redevelopment plans for the former Royal Mint site next to the Tower of London
The plan for the embassy, close to the Tower of London, was blocked by the previous government after British intelligence agencies and Scotland Yard objected on the grounds that sensitive data cables that run nearby could be vulnerable to attack by Chinese spies. Pictured: A planning document
Both Yvette Cooper’s Home Office and David Lammy’s Foreign Office are understood to want to add China to the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme – designed to combat covert activities – while No 10 and Rachel Reeves’ Treasury have argued against doing so.
Last night, the Tories accused the Prime Minister of adopting a ‘policy of appeasement towards state bullying and intimidation’ from Beijing, saying that the ‘dungeons’ could be used for eavesdropping or interrogation.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, shadow levelling up secretary Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘Downing Street has been caught red-handed in an attempt to ram this mega- embassy through the planning system.
‘Labour have disregarded democratic concerns – through a contempt for local democracy, and by failing to defend free speech in Britain.
‘It would be a barbarous irony that a site so close to the medieval Tower of London could become a modern-day dungeon under a Starmer Government.’
Mr Hollinrake writes that the lack of information about the dungeons in the planning documents was ‘striking’, saying: ‘Why does the use of the basement rooms need to be redacted, given they are not in public sight and there is no public access?’
He adds: ‘This subterranean zone will undeniably be used for intelligence work by the Chinese Communist Party and its arm, the United Front Work Department.
‘But there is also a chilling prospect that it could be used for the abduction, intimidation or torture of anti-Chinese dissidents living in the United Kingdom.’
Pictured: Royal Mint Court, the site of the proposed new Chinese Embassy in London
Last night, the Tories accused the Prime Minister (pictured) of adopting a ‘policy of appeasement towards state bullying and intimidation’ from Beijing, saying that the ‘dungeons’ could be used for eavesdropping or interrogation
Mr Hollinrake cites the example of a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester who was dragged into Chinese consulate grounds in Manchester and beaten up.
Unofficial Chinese government ‘police service stations’ have operated in Croydon, Hendon, Glasgow and Belfast, allegedly being used by Beijing to monitor the country’s expatriates.
Last year, Amnesty International warned that Chinese and Hong Kong students in the UK and other countries ‘are being intimidated, harassed and silenced by the Chinese authorities as part of a sinister pattern of transnational repression’ – with the embassies being used as the hub of the Chinese state surveillance.
Scotland Yard and British intelligence agencies objected to the project because sensitive data cables which run nearby could be vulnerable to attack by Chinese spies.
Mapping data shows that the proposed site for the embassy lies directly between financial hubs in the City and Canary Wharf and close to three major data centres.
Diplomats also said that Donald Trump’s administration would have reservations about sharing intelligence with the UK if the embassy was allowed to open.
Within a fortnight of Ms Reeves returning from China earlier this year, Scotland Yard and Tower Hamlets Council mysteriously dropped their objections to the project.
Responding to questions from the Conservatives about whether No 10 had intervened in the local planning process at the behest of Beijing, the Government would only say: ‘The public interest lies in favour of withholding the information you have requested.’
A Chinese embassy spokesman dismissed claims it could be an espionage hub, adding: ‘Anti-China elements are always keen on slandering and attacking China.’
