Former Better Together chief Blair McDougall on why he's protesting a Chinese 'super embassy'

China plans to build a huge embassy in Tower Hamlets in London, something supported by both the UK home secretary and foreign secretary despite security concerns being raised by the Metropolitan Police and protests from residents.

Blair McDougall, the former chief of Better Together, will speak at a rally in London opposing the embassy on February 8, citing issues around China freezing the assets of Hong Kongers, and detaining British citizens.

Speaking exclusively to The Scotsman, Mr McDougall, who chairs Westminster’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong, said it was about setting parameters for the relationship with Beijing.

He said: “The relationship between China and the rest of the world is going to define the generation to come in all sorts of ways. This is the period where we will shape what that looks like and we will begin to define what that relationship looks like. For example, one of the issues around the new embassy is whether there would be space to protest outside of it, which is going to be something which is increasingly popular.

“That’s an important practical consideration, but it is also a symbolic consideration. Are we, as a country, going to sacrifice our own liberal democratic values, as we engage in that relationship with China?

“The government’s right to try to pursue a new strategy with China, we've blown very hot and very cold. But that relationship has to be one that's based on honesty as to what we want out of the relationship and what our red lines are.

“I think the invasion of Ukraine has been a formative moment for a lot of members of Parliament. The international struggle between democracies and authoritarianism has been crystallised, so I think this is a more central issue to our politics than one might think.”

Counterterror police have warned the site will attract large protests and that tackling demonstrations could take officers away from frontline duties. Intelligence services are also reportedly concerned about the area’s proximity to critical communication cables.

The East Renfrewshire MP said it was also an issue of timing.

Mr McDougall said: “I chair the all-party group in Hong Kong, for example, and in the UK there are a couple of hundred thousand British Hong Kongers who have had their life savings frozen, effectively stolen by Beijing for purely political reasons. There are British political prisoners who have not been released in Hong Kong.

“The relationship cannot be one way, it cannot be us bending over backwards and giving shiny new embassies, while not getting anything back. For me, the getting something back is about the treatment of our citizens, the treatment of Hong Kongers, and the influx of goods that are made with Muslim Uyghur slave labour flooding into the country.”

The Met Police dropped its opposition shortly after Chancellor Rachel Reeves returned from a visit to Beijing and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had been in contact with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The embassy scheme has been “called in”, which means the government will make the final decision following a report from the Planning Inspectorate.