Urgent review of China's role in UK vital, Labour figures tell PM

Senior Labour figures have urged the government to review Chinese investment in UK infrastructure in response to the British Steel crisis, warning that a rapprochement with Beijing could risk national security.

- Kiran Stacey

Government officials insisted yesterday that the country remained open to funding from Chinese companies even after a dramatic weekend during which ministers wrested control of the Scunthorpe steelmaking plant from the owners, Jingye.

Both Downing Street and the Treasury said they believed the row over the Scunthorpe plant to be an isolated commercial dispute, even though the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has not ruled out deliberate Chinese sabotage.

But ministers are under mounting pressure to reconsider their drive to secure further infrastructure investment from China, including from members of their own party.

Helena Kennedy, the Labour peer and co-chair of the Inter-parliamentary Alliance on China, said: "There should be an urgent security review of all those Chinese companies operating within our infrastructure which could pose a threat to our national interests - and maybe not just confined to China."

She added: "This fiasco shows the risks, but there are also many which affect our digital infrastructure and technological progress - and our very intelligence arrangements."

Liam Byrne, the Labour MP who chairs the business select committee, said: "We must now become fiercely vigilant about who is granted the keys to the industries and infrastructure that keep our nation moving.