China lifts sanctions on six serving British MPs and peers, Starmer says

China has lifted the sanctions it imposed on six serving British MPs and peers, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Friday after talks in Beijing with President Xi Jinping, adding the restrictions no longer apply with immediate effect. Nine UK citizens were banned from China in 2021, the Guardian reported, including five Conservative MPs and two members of the House of Lords, targeted for highlighting human rights violations against the Muslim Uyghur community in Xinjiang.

Those measures had barred travel to China, Hong Kong and Macau, frozen any property in China and prohibited Chinese citizens and institutions from doing business with the individuals. Starmer said he raised the issue during his visit and quoted Xi as saying "that means all parliamentarians are welcome." He told broadcasters: "I know that the action taken in relation to our parliamentarians has been a real cause of concern, understandably so...

the restrictions no longer apply." The affected MPs and peers said they would continue to speak out against human rights abuses and described the "selective lifting of sanctions solely on sitting parliamentarians" as wrong. The five MPs originally sanctioned in 2021 were named as Iain Duncan Smith, Tom Tugendhat, Nusrat Ghani, Neil O'Brien and Tim Loughton (who stood down in 2024), and the two peers were David Alton and Helena Kennedy.

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