Chinese officials ‘face bar from lying in state’

CHINA’S official delegation is expected to be barred from attending the Queen’s lying in state ahead of the state funeral.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle will prevent them entering Westminster Hall while seven MPs and peers remain sanctioned by Beijing, a parliamentary source told the PA news agency.

Two sanctioned Tory MPs, Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Tim Loughton, have been raising concerns about the delegation’s possible attendance, saying it was “extraordinary” they had received an invite.

Sir Lindsay was upholding his position on barring Chinese state officials while the parliamentarians remain sanctioned, the source said, confirming the story first reported by the Politico website.

A House of Commons spokesman said “we do not comment on security matters” while Sir Lindsay’s spokesman also declined to comment.

Number 10 also declined to comment, with a Downing Street spokeswoman saying: “Admission to Parliament is a matter for Parliament.”

In a letter to Sir Lindsay earlier this week, Sir Iain and Mr Loughton, along with crossbench peer Lord Alton and Labour’s Baroness Kennedy, warned against giving the delegation access.

“We are greatly concerned to hear that the Government of China has been invited to attend the state funeral next week, despite other countries Russia, Belarus and Myanmar being excluded,” they wrote.

“Given that the United Kingdom Parliament has voted to recognise the genocide committed by the Chinese Government against the Uighur people it is extraordinary that the architects of that genocide should be treated in any more favourable way than those countries who have been barred.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping is not scheduled to attend the Westminster Abbey funeral on Monday, instead sending his deputy, Wang Qishan.

Mr Xi met Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Uzbekistan on Thursday.

Last September, Sir Lindsay and his counterpart in the upper chamber, Lord McFall, blocked Chinese ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang from visiting Parliament.

The Commons Speaker argued at the time it would not be “appropriate” for the ambassador to meet at the Commons while seven British parliamentarians remain sanctioned.

Six months earlier, China imposed sanctions on seven parliamentarians, also including Tory MPs Tom Tugendhat, Nusrat Ghani and Neil O’Brien.

They are all vocal critics of Beijing, having spoken out against the treatment of the Uighur people in Xinjiang.

China hit the parliamentarians with sanctions shortly after Britain – along with the US, Canada and European Union – placed sanctions on Chinese officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses in the country’s autonomous north-west territory.

The Government has increasingly signalled a willingness to take a harder line against China and, as foreign secretary, Liz Truss was seen as a key voice pushing for a tougher stance.