UK universities being targeted by China with UK Government failing on national security, SNP MP claims

SNP MP Stewart McDonald has written to Rishi Sunak after the PM failed to answer his question in the Commons

UK universities are being targeted by the Chinese Communist Party, with the threat being ignored by the UK Government, an SNP MP has claimed.

Pointing to an audit conducted by UK officials, Stewart McDonald claimed threats had been discovered only for officials to do nothing. The Glasgow South MP warned hundreds of programmes at UK universities were deemed at “high risk of being exploited by the CCP”, as he raised the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions.

However, after the PM failed to answer if he knew about the audit, Mr McDonald has now written to Mr Sunak demanding answers.

Stewart McDonald has written to the Prime Minister over the threat of China.

He said: "You did not answer my question, instead citing the UK’s ‘robust and pro-active’ approach towards China – news perhaps to the Intelligence and Security Committee who noted just last year that ‘there is no evidence that [Whitehall policy] departments have the necessary resources, expertise or knowledge of the threat to investigate and counter China’s approach’.

“I am deeply concerned that the UK Government is simply not acting with the urgency that the Chinese threat demands. Nowhere is this clearer than in the field of higher education, where universities across the United Kingdom have come to rely on China for as much as a quarter of their income and as many as 42 institutions have forged ties with Chinese institutions connected to the repression of the Uighurs, espionage, nuclear weapons research, hacking and other areas of sensitive and strategic interest to the Chinese Community Party. This is an intolerable situation that cannot continue.

“The findings in the report requires urgent action and cannot be swept under the carpet for a moment longer. Will you now confirm your personal knowledge of the recent audit of university research projects; explain why no action has been taken and instead take an urgent course of action that is cross government and involves the devolved administrations, who have responsibility for universities, to address this pressing issue of national security”.

Last month the former deputy head of MI6, Nigel Inkster, warned the British intelligence service is not equipped to handle covert threats from China. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has been approached for comment.