Foreign Political Lobbyists to Be Required to Register Activities Under New UK Law

Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat speaking to the media at an event in Biggin Hill Airport in London on July 30, 2022. Henry Nicholls/PA Media

Foreign political influencers will be compelled to register their activities or face imprisonment, fine, or both, the UK government said on Tuesday.

The new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) was introduced as an amendment to the National Security Bill, which is passing through Parliament.

It comes after the Security Service, also known as MI5, resorted to alerting Parliament about Chinese agent Christine Ching Kui Lee in January because she couldn’t be punished by existing UK law.

The two-tiered system will require foreign agents to register political influence activities within the UK at the direction of a foreign power or entity within 10 days of the direction or before the activity is carried out.

Failure to register could result in up to two years of imprisonment, a fine, or both.

Under the “enhanced tier” rules, The home secretary can name a foreign power or foreign power-controlled entity with parliamentary approval to protect the safety or interests of the UK.

It will be an offence for anyone to carry out any activity in the UK at their direction without it being registered, with offenders facing up to five years of imprisonment, a fine, or both.

“There is no restriction on which states could be named, to enable the UK to respond to emerging threats from any foreign power,” the Home Office said.

Other powers are added to the bill to counter corrupt financial influence, giving investigations to monitor suspects’ accounts in UK financial institutions, compel them to provide information, and ban the obtaining of material benefits from a foreign intelligence service.

Introducing the amendment, Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said he had campaigned for years for a registration scheme that would “deter foreign powers from pursuing their pernicious aims through the covert use of agents and proxies.”

“I am delighted that the scheme we are introducing will help ensure our political affairs are protected, whilst embracing open and transparent engagement with foreign governments and entities which we continue to welcome.

MI5 Director General Ken McCallum gives his annual threat update at MI5 headquarters in Thames House, London, on July 14, 2021. Yui Mok/PA

MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said “modern power” will “make it harder—and riskier—to operate covertly in the UK at the behest of a foreign power” and “increase openness and transparency around the scale of foreign influence in our political affairs and make it harder for our adversaries to undermine our democracy.

CCP Influence

The UK’s new National Security Bill does not name any countries, but the plan to introduce the bill was announced five days after MI5’s alert of Lee’s activities.

Lee has been “knowingly engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),” the security agency said.

Undated photo showing the offices of Christine Lee and Co on Wardour Street in central London. Victoria Jones/PA Media

Benedict Rogers, Epoch Times contributor and co-founder of the Conservative Human Rights Commission, an entity sanctioned by the Chinese regime, told The Epoch Times that the new registration scheme is “definitely needed and long overdue, particularly in light of some of the issues we’ve had recently: the Christine Lee case and even in light of what’s happened in Manchester,” referring to a Hong Kong protester beaten by a group of men appeared to be staff at the Chinese Consulate General in Manchester.

David Alton, Lord Alton of Liverpool, who is also sanctioned by the CCP, told The Epoch Times in an email: “Democracy dies in darkness, freedom thrives in the daylight. It is only right that Parliament and government should know which dodgy governments are lobbying them, particularly by shady individuals who have somehow gained access to a parliament or civil service security pass.”

A report published in February calling for a U.S.- or Australian-style foreign influence registration scheme said “a number of hostile, adversarial, and authoritarian states—including, but not limited to, China and Russia—have utilised lobbying as part of their operations to undermine the West.”

At a launch event, Australian author Clive Hamilton said Australia’s  Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act, working with the Espionage and Foreign Interference Act, does appear to have a “prophylactic effect.”

“My perception is, as an expert in foreign interference, Chinese, CCP interference in Australia, there does appear to be some change in the modus operandi of China in Australia,” he said.