April 13, 2025
By Harry Mottram: Foreign Secretary David Lammy has reacted angrily to the Communist officials in Hong Kong who refused to allow Bath’s MP Wera Hobhouse to enter the former British run territory to visit relatives. She was stopped at the airport and deported. David Lammy said: “It is deeply concerning to hear that an MP on a personal trip has been refused entry to Hong Kong. We will urgently raise this with the authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing to demand an explanation. As I made clear earlier this week, it would be unacceptable for an MP to be denied entry for simply expressing their views as a parliamentarian. Unjustified restrictions on freedom of movement can only serve to further undermine Hong Kong’s international reputation.”
Wera Hobhouse said she was shocked at the refusal to allow her to enter the territory at the airport to visit her son and grandson. She told The Sunday Times: “My son was waiting at the other end at arrivals. I couldn’t even see him and give him a hug and I hadn’t seen him in a year. When I was given the decision, my voice was shaking and I was just saying: ‘Why, please explain to me? I am obviously devastated. I was obviously looking forward to holding [my grandson] and cuddling him and… establishing a relationship. They are obviously quite a long way away, so each month you lose is a bit of a loss for the relationship I will have with my grandson. Having to fly back, it was so hard. I didn’t cry but I was very close to tears.”
The Sunday Times reported that Ms Hobhouse’s husband was allowed to enter but decided to return to the UK. The couple had travelled to visit their son who has lived in Hong Kong since 2019. However, the Chinese authorities gave her no explanation as to why she was kicked out of the country although it is generally thought it was due to her membership of Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac). The organisation unites lawmakers worldwide, promoting democracy and addressing threats to the rules-based and human rights in the People’s Republic of China where there are no human rights, no democracy and a dictatorship run by male millionaires does not tolerate the mildest of criticism. The Liberal Democrat MP for Bath has voiced her criticism in Ipac of the Chines brutal crushing of the democracy movement in Hong Kong, its repression of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang province and the trampling of human rights across the country. China has previously banned other Ipac members, including Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Nusrat Ghani, as well as former security minister Tom Tugendhat.
Wera Hobhouse has received support from the leader of the Liberal Democrats in Parliament Sir Ed Davey who wrote on X: “I have written to David Lammy to ask him to summon the Chinese Ambassador after Wera Hobhouse was refused entry to Hong Kong when visiting her family, apparently simply because she is a British MP. China should not be allowed to undermine our democracy.”
The affair comes at a difficult time in world trade with the USA’s plans to hike tariffs on imports from China and also the UK and the EU which has prompted the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and foreign secretary David Lammy to travel to Beijing in recent months for talks on easing trade barriers. At the same time the Government and opposition parties are strongly opposed to the anti-democratic and free speech policy of the Chinese regime together with its threats to start a war with the democratic Republic of China based on the island of Taiwan.
Hong Kong was a British Colony and then a dependent overseas territory from 1898 to 1997 when it was returned to China. For a short period its democratic institutions were respected in part until the rise of the current Chinese dictator and president when all opposition was crushed. Around 7.5 million people live there with a mixture of nationalities although overwhelmingly Chinese.
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