Former MI5 Chief Warns Parliament at Great Risk From China Over Donation Loopholes

The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom (R) is seen next to the national flag of China as pro-Beijing activists gather outside the British Consulate-General to protest against the use of the British National (Overseas) passport, in Hong Kong on Feb. 1, 2021. Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images

Loopholes in Britain’s election donation laws put Parliament at greater risk of being targeted by China and Russia, a former MI5 chief has warned.

Lord Evans of Weardale said the UK was vulnerable to interference because arrangements had not been tightened.

He said calls for reform had been met with “very strong resistance,” but said now was the time to address the vulnerabilities of the electoral finance system.

Speaking to The Times of London, Lord Evans, who is the current chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said: “It is clear that there is at least concern that a number of foreign states—certainly Russia and China—might be trying to improperly influence democratic processes.

“We need to take action [and] one of the ways we should be doing that is tightening election finance arrangements.”

He added: “I think we should have an electoral finance system that is difficult for a hostile state to misuse.

“There is a problem here. Other countries have experienced it. Now is a good opportunity for us to tighten any loopholes.”

Spies

Lord Evans, who headed up the security service from 2007 to 2013, said there were undeniable vulnerabilities in the electoral finance system.

“If we are concerned that there are foreign states who might be trying to influence our democracy [… ] then we should be taking appropriate precautions and reducing our vulnerability.

“One way is to make sure they can’t put money into our electoral system.”

His intervention comes in the wake of the arrest of a parliamentary researcher on allegations he was spying on behalf of Beijing.

The 28-year-old, whose work brought him close to security minister Tom Tugendhat and MPs sanctioned by the Chinese regime, has since denied the allegations in an anonymous statement issued through his solicitor.

He was arrested in Edinburgh in March, while another man in his 30s was arrested in Oxfordshire on March 13 on similar allegations. Both have been bailed until October.

News of the arrests caused uproar in Parliament, with former Prime Minister Liz Truss calling on the government to officially designate China as a threat to the UK.

Many politicians told the Commons how they were unaware over the arrests until reading about them in the press.

MPs also mounted pressure on on both Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary James Cleverly—who visited China last month—to reveal exactly when they became aware of the allegations.

Following the news, The Times of London reported that MI5 had previously advised the Tory party to remove two people from its prospective candidates list because of ties to China.

Last year, the security service took the unusual step of publicly naming solicitor Christine Lee, who they said was “knowingly engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the Chinese Communist Party.”

The details were contained in a Security Service Interference Alert (SSIA) circulated to parliamentarians by Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

She was alleged to have engaged with MPs while facilitating financial donations from politicians in Hong Kong and on the Chinese mainland.

Detail of an MI5 Security Service Interference Alert (SSIA) identifying Christine Lee as "an agent of the Chinese government” operating in the British Parliament, issued by the Office of the Speaker of the House of Commons, on Jan. 12, 2022. House of Commons/PA

Foreign Cash

It’s not the first time Lord Evans has told government it needed to tighten up rules surrounding political donations.

In a report on election finance in 2021, he recommended strengthening requirements to identify the “true source” of political donations and “reduce the potential for foreign money to influence UK elections.”

The standards committee said that donations should be made only from profits generated in the UK and recommended tighter rules on unincorporated associations, which were a “weak point” in the regime.

However, the government has insisted that the rules are strong enough despite repeated concern about money from donors with links to Russia.

In May, Lord Evans supported a Lords amendment to the national security bill, which has since replaced the Official Secrets Act, that would have required political parties to carry out due diligence on the true source of donations.

The change was defeated by the government, with Mr. Tugendhat stating the amendment was not needed as “the law already makes robust provision in relation to donations to political parties.”

He said, “Foreign donations are banned, it is an offence to accept them and there are strong rules safeguarding against donations via the back door.”

A spokesman for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said, “Foreign donations are banned in the UK and electoral law clearly sets out that only those with a genuine interest in UK elections can make political donations.”