Kemi Badenoch has said that Sir Keir Starmer should have been able to secure the release of pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai during his visit to China.
The Conservative leader, who has been critical of the prime minister’s attempts to reset the UK’s relationship with Beijing, said that was something a “strong prime minister would have been able to secure”.
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Ms Badenoch told Sky News: “I would have liked to have seen the release of Jimmy Lai. That is someone who should not have been imprisoned.
“He is suffering, his children are worried that he’s dying. That is something that a strong UK prime minister would have been able to secure, and he failed to do that.”
Mr Lai, a British citizen who became the face of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, was arrested in August 2020 after China imposed a new national security law to curb protests.
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Lai, who founded the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, has been found guilty of three national security offences, and could be sentenced to life in prison.
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He remains in prison in Hong Kong, and his family are concerned about his health and access to medical treatment.
His case is one of several points of tension between the UK and China, in addition to Beijing’s ongoing tacit support for Russia in its war against Ukraine and sanctions it had levied against British MPs who had expressed concerns about alleged human rights abuses against Uyghur people.
Following the trip, China lifted sanctions on six parliamentarians who had been barred from visiting China, which Sir Keir said would not have happened “if we weren’t here, having the leader-to-leader exchange”.
Also secured was a reduction in tariffs on whisky imports, from 10% to 5%, and visa-free travel to China for British citizens for up to 30 days.
Downing Street hailed Sir Keir’s visit to China – the first of any prime minister since Baroness May in 2018 – as a success that has opened up fresh business opportunities.
It has also been critical of the previous Conservative administration’s “inconsistent” stance on China that “blew hot and cold”, from the warm relations of the “golden age” under David Cameron to the “ice age” under more recent Tory prime ministers.
But Ms Badenoch, who has said she would not have gone to China if she were in the prime minister’s position, said his trip was a “show of weakness, not strength”.
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“His entire economic policy is dependent on China – wind turbines from China, solar panels from China, car battery vehicles from China,” said Ms Badenoch.
“He does not have a plan for economic growth if we want to get Britain working again.”
Pressed on how the UK could achieve economic growth if it did not engage with China, she replied: “There’s a lot that we can do in our country right now to get that growth: stop taxing businesses out of existence, stop putting to pay more and more money for welfare and taxing people to do that.
“That’s where he should start, not in kowtowing to China.”
Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Communities Secretary Steve Reed said he hoped that an “open dialogue” with China would lead to the release of Mr Lai.
“We all want to see Jimmy Lai released,” he said.
“The fact that there is now an open dialogue with China, the fact that the prime minister raised it directly with President Xi, means that there’s an open channel that I hope will lead to that.”
