UK Politics

The UK government has intervened to take back British Steel from its Chinese owners, in an unprecedented move which could amount to the most significant nationalisation this century. Government ministers have accused the company’s owners, Jingye, of attempting to sabotage the Scunthorpe plant by allowing it to“It is an explicit strategy of the Chinese Communist Party to undermine the industrial base of foreign countries,” said Luke de Pulford, director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.The government is meeting with Jingye representatives today in a bid to save the steelmaking plant from closure.Meanwhile, China is warning the UK against “politicising” British Steel, according to reports from AFP, in the midst of criticisms over Chinese ownership by business secretary Jonathan Reynolds. Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, urged the British government to “avoid politicising trade cooperation or linking it to security issues, so as not to impact the confidence of Chinese enterprises in going to the UK”.The drastic action taken on British Steel adds pressure to the UK’s relationship with China, in particular since both invest in each others economies. The current Trump trade war shows that China is willing to retaliate when pushed, with current tariffs on US goods escalating to 125 per cent. British Steel and Chinese investment In the wake of Britain’s emergency takeover, Mr Reynolds confirmed that there must now be a “high trust bar” when dealing with firms from China.“I think we have got to be clear about what is the sort of sector where, actually, we can promote and co-operate, and ones frankly where we can’t,” he told Sky News hosts on Sunday.He added: “I wouldn’t personally bring a Chinese company into our steel sector.”Overall, Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) into the UK stood at £4.2 billion in 2023, according to government figures. But British investment into China was actually twice as high, at £8.8 billion in the same year.However, both economies’ mutual investment have gone down significantly since Covid, dropping by around a third on either end. Earlier this month, shadow home secretary Chris Philp asked why the government is “silent” on China, saying there is “no question” that the country should be on an enhanced tier of the new foreign influence registration scheme. More

An anti- Brexit activist who has spent years mounting a one-man protest outside Britain’s Parliament won a court victory on Monday against a police attempt to pull the plug on his musical activities.A judge in London cleared Steve Bray, known as “Stop Brexit Man,” of failing to comply with a police order to stop playing amplified music in Parliament Square on March 20, 2024.Bray, 56, came to prominence in the years after Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union by bellowing “Stop Brexit” near television reporters during live broadcasts while wearing a top hat in the blue and yellow of the EU flag.More recently he has taken to playing satirically tinged songs before Parliament’s weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session, including the theme from “The Muppet Show” and Darth Vader’s theme from “Star Wars.” He blasted “Things Can Only Get Better” outside 10 Downing St. while then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called an election in May 2024.Bray, who represented himself during his trial, argued that the music was part of his “fundamental right to protest,” and Deputy District Judge Anthony Woodcock agreed.Handing down a not-guilty verdict at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, the judge said Bray believes he has “an important message to disseminate.”“How he chooses to express those views is a matter for him,” the judge said, noting that “lampooning the government through satire is a long tradition in this country.”After the verdict, Bray said that “today is a very important day, not just for us as protesters, but for everybody’s freedom of expression and their right to protest.”“Regardless what side of the fence you’re on, whatever your protest is, this is a victory for you,” he said. More

One of Britain’s top economists has urged Rachel Reeves to hike the basic rate of income tax for the first time since 1975 in response to Donald Trump’s global trade war. Paul Johnson, director of the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), has warned the chancellor’s “iron-clad” fiscal rules mean she will face economically damaging choices ahead of her Budget this autumn. He said Mr Trump’s tariffs are “buffeting the economy so badly” and “there is a good chance she will need more money to meet those rules”. “It would not be daft to think about doing something that no one has done for the last 50 years, and that is to increase the basic rate of income tax, which is probably less economically damaging than an awful lot of other things she might think about doing,” he told Times Radio. Rachel Reeves has ruled out pursuing another major tax-hiking Budget More

An activist known as “Stop Brexit Man” has been cleared of flouting a police ban after playing anti-Conservative and anti-Brexit edits of The Muppet Show and Darth Vader’s theme music outside parliament.Steve Bray, 56, was playing music on 20 March last year before the then prime minister Rishi Sunak arrived for Prime Minister’s Questions. Police had approached Mr Bray when he was stood on a traffic island at around 11.20am, and handed him a map to warn him he wasn’t allowed to use his speakers in the controlled area under a by-law, the court heard.He resumed playing the music intermittently and, over an hour later, officers seized the speakers.The activist is known for playing music in protest around Westminster. He famously played D:Ream’s “Things Can Only Get Better” at the gates of Downing Street when Mr Sunak announced a general election in the pouring rain last May.Mr Bray was found not guilty of failing without reasonable excuse to comply with a direction given under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 “re prohibited activities in Parliament Square” at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.Steve Bray admitted to being ‘anti-Tory’ as he plays music in protest around Westminster More

As government officials and British Steel staff race to save its blast furnaces after what ministers believe was a plot to sabotage the Scunthorpe plant by its Chinese owners, there are more eyes than ever on Chinese investments in the UK. MPs were recalled to parliament on Saturday to pass emergency legislation allowing the government to seize control of British Steel after Jingye, its Chinese owner, appeared to be gearing up to turn off the blast furnaces at the site. But British Steel isn’t the only critical infrastructure in which China has a stake. Nuclear power The China General Nuclear Corporation (CGN) was an initial investor in the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, giving it a 33.5 per cent stake. But it halted funding in 2023 amid mounting tension between London and Beijing, meaning its one-third stake has been receding in recent years. In 2016, CGN was charged by the US government with nuclear espionage, resulting in an employee being sentenced to two years in prison. The 17-page indictment accused the company and its employees of having unlawfully conspired to develop nuclear material in China without US approval and “with the intent to secure an advantage to the People’s Republic of China”.China was also involved in the Sizewell C nuclear power station but in 2022, the UK government forced Beijing out, spending £679m of taxpayer cash as part of an exit deal. Heathrow airport The China Investment Company (CIC), a state-owned investment firm with global assets worth around £1.1 trillion, has a 10 per cent stake in Heathrow airport, Britain’s key aviation hub. The airport is critical for the government’s plan for growth after ministers approved the building of a third runway earlier this year. The CIC has a 10.5 per cent stake in National Grid’s gas distribution network after the gas and electricity company agreed to sell a majority stake in its gas pipe network in 2016. The CIC also holds an 8.7 per cent share of Thames Water. In February, it was revealed by the Financial Times that UK security services are taking part in a review of China’s role in UK energy infrastructure, with MI5 said to be looking at whether the use of Chinese technology – such as solar panels or industrial batteries – could pose a threat to national security. Universities Top British universities have received tens of millions of pounds from Chinese organisations, The Independent revealed earlier this year. Experts warn the UK is increasingly becoming a target for Beijing as it looks to increase its global influence and stifle criticism.A series of freedom of information requests to Russell Group universities – an association of the top 24 research universities in the UK – found they received nearly £50m from Chinese sources in the past four years. Oxford and Cambridge received the most donations, gifts, grants and research funding from Chinese sources. Oxford University brought in £24m from 2020 to 2024, while Cambridge received between £12m and £19m over the same period. This included money from Huawei Technologies and its subsidiaries to Cambridge after it was banned from involvement in Britain’s telecommunications infrastructure in July 2020.Real estate In 2022, The Guardian revealed that Beijing owns a vast network of UK real estate – controlling more than 250 properties across Britain via dozens of companies – including distribution centres that are central to the flow of food and goods across the southwest and southeast of England and the Midlands. The CIC is thought to have spent at least £580m on properties in the UK. Telecommunications While Chinese-owned company Huawei was initially allowed to contribute to Britain’s 5G network, the UK government has since banned its use and is phasing out the company’s equipment over fears that use of the technology could compromise UK national security.In 2020, the government passed a law banning British mobile providers from buying new Huawei 5G equipment and forcing them to remove all Huawei kit from their networks by 2027. More

A former Conservative lawmaker and 14 others have been charged with cheating when placing bets on the timing of Britain’s general election last year, the Gambling Commission said Monday.Craig Williams was one of several people who had been investigated for cashing in on insider knowledge on the date then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would call the election. Other members of the Conservative Party that controlled government at the time and at least one of the prime minister’s police bodyguards were also under investigation in the scandal.It’s legal for politicians to wager on elections, but the investigation was about whether they used inside information to gain an unfair advantage. One of the popular bets at the time was to wager on the date the prime minister would call an election. At the time, the conventional wisdom was that Sunak would call an election in the fall, but he surprised people in May when he set the date for July 4th. The vote ended up being a bloodbath for Conservatives, as the Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, swept them out of office for the first time in 14 years.Williams, who was Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary and running for reelection in the race on July 4, had disclosed he placed a 100-pound ($131) bet on a July election days before the date had been announced.“I committed an error of judgment, not an offense, and I want to reiterate my apology directly to you,” he said in a video posted on social media.Williams lost his seat in the election, finishing third.Others facing charges included Russell George, a Conservative in the Welsh parliament and Nick Mason, a former chief data officer for Tories. More

The leader of Hungary’s largest opposition party on Sunday told thousands of supporters that he would guide his country out of its international isolation if he defeats Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in elections scheduled for next year. Péter Magyar, the leader of the Respect and Freedom (Tisza) party, represents the most serious challenge to Orbán’s power since the right-wing populist leader took power in 2010. Recent polling suggests that Tisza has overtaken Orbán’s Fidesz party as Hungary struggles with a stagnating economy and has been politically sidelined in the European Union over Orbán’s policies.Speaking at a rally in Budapest on Sunday, Magyar said that, if elected, he and his party would restore Hungary’s relationships and reputation among its allies that have suffered as Orbán has attacked the European Union and pursued close relationships with autocracies like Russia and China. “We will finally put our common affairs in order,” Magyar said. “Our homeland, Hungary, will once again be a proud and reliable ally of NATO. Hungary will once again be a full-fledged member of the European Union.”Orbán, a self-described “illiberal” leader, has been accused by critics of having led Hungary out of the community of European democracies by eroding democratic institutions, violating judicial independence and taking over much of Hungary’s media. Since taking power in 2010, he and his Fidesz party have led the country with a two-thirds majority in parliament, and easily defeated any opposition. But recent polls suggest that Tisza has pulled ahead of Fidesz in popularity as Magyar’s campaign focuses on economic and social issues facing the country like persistent inflation, a poor healthcare system and alleged government corruption. On Sunday, Magyar said Orbán’s system “cannot be reformed, cannot be fixed, cannot be improved. This system can only be replaced, and that is what we will do — lawfully, democratically, but with determination, we will cut down the regime.”Nóra Farkas, a supporter of Magyar at the rally, said she had hoped for Orbán’s defeat in Hungary’s last national elections in 2022, but that with around a year to go before the next ballot, she is more confident that change is possible.“Anyone who thinks things are going well in this country is blind. Orbán and his circle are the main reason for the problems,” she said. ___Béla Szandelszky in Budapest, Hungary contributed. More

The business secretary has refused to guarantee that the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe will get enough raw materials in time to keep its crucial blast furnaces running.Jonathan Reynolds also said he would not sell the business to another Chinese owner as he indicated there is now a “high trust bar” for Chinese companies to meet before they will be allowed to invest in sensitive UK industries.On Saturday the government pushed through emergency legislation to take control of British Steel, with Mr Reynolds warning MPs that once blast furnaces run out of raw materials, they can never be turned back on. British Steel needs to secure raw materials for its blast furnaces to prevent its Scunthorpe facility from shutting down irrevocably More