Labour Minister Criticises White House Concerns Over China Mega-Embassy – Guido Fawkes

WATCH: Labour Minister Criticises White House Concerns Over China Mega-Embassy

Iain Duncan Smith was granted an urgent question to Ministry of Housing to ask about security concerns around China’s mega-embassy near the City of London.

Alongside the regular “we won’t comment on an ongoing planning process” material housing minister Matthew Pennycook said curiously:

“A public inquiry was held earlier this year in respect of this case between 11^th and 28^th of February at which interested parties were able to put forward evidence and representations. Should any further representations be made which raise material planning considerations before the decision is made these will also be taken into account at all times.”

This contradicts what the planning inspectorate said in February which is that no more representations would be taken. The mega-embassy sits on top of a hub of important communication cables – this is why it was cancelled on the recommendation of security services before Labour came in…

Pennycook also said Labour “don’t recognise the information as presented by the Sunday Times” which is effectively attacking the White House, whose representatives are “deeply concerned about providing China with potential access to the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” Concerning for US-UK relations there…

The decision on the embassy development is understood to be imminent. Pennycook’s line remains: “I am not going to commit to reject an application that has not come to the department.” Where have we seen that kind of obfuscation before…