National security comes first, minister says amid reports Chinese embassy in London nearing approval – UK politics live
Liz Kendall says ‘we are clear-eyed about our relationship with China and national security will always come first’Here is the agenda for the day, according to the PA news agency:Friday:...
By Amy Sedghi · The Guardian World
Liz Kendall says ‘we are clear-eyed about our relationship with China and national security will always come first’ Here is the agenda for the day, according to the PA news agency: Friday: Keir Starme r has arrived in Johannesburg for the G20 summit in South Africa . The pime minister is expected to have bilats at 9.20am before meeting business leaders and visiting a train depot at 11.55am. We are clear-eyed about our relationship with China and national security will always come first. That is absolutely non-negotiable. But where we can safely work with China, whether that’s on the economy or areas like research, that’s what we’ll do, because we want to get the best outcome for the British public. I don’t know about the prime minister’s diary plans for the new year, but what I do know is that he takes all of those issues extremely seriously. Ed Miliband promised to cut everyone’s energy bills by £300 but more and more experts are sounding the alarm that his plans will lock us into paying higher bills for decades. Despite gas prices falling, independent experts, energy suppliers and academics say it’s the extra costs of Ed’s net zero targets that are putting upward pressure on bills. Keir Starmer has defended his decision to travel to South Africa for the G20 summit days before the budget and despite the planned absence of Donald Trump . The prime minister arrived in South Africa on Friday morning for two days of summit discussions and bilateral talks on topics including sustainability and economic growth. Starmer has accused Nigel Farage of being “spineless” when it comes to tackling racism in his party after the Guardian revealed allegations he made xenophobic and antisemitic comments while he was at school. The prime minister said the Reform UK leader had “questions to answer” about the comments and chants alleged, which included songs about the Holocaust and accusations of bullying towards ethnic minority schoolboys. The UK’s response to Covid was “too little,…