(Rutland and Melton) (Con):
I am exasperated that, six months after I secured an urgent
question on this issue, it is still true that there are four
illegal police stations operating in the country that we know
of—the one in Belfast seems to be missing from much of the
reporting. There is no question that when we are vulnerable at
home to Chinese transnational repression, we are weaker on the
world stage. [Interruption.] I hope the Minister is listening;
does he wish to respond already? This is a transnational crisis,
and I have just met with Vahid Beheshti, who is on day 56 of
hunger strike outside the Foreign Office because of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps failing to be proscribed,
despite the promise to do so. When will the Home Office close the
IRGC cut-outs operating in Maida Vale, Willesden
and Manchester, as well as the at least four Chinese police
operating stations? Other countries have acted, so why have we
not?
The Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire (): I assure my hon. Friend that
I was listening extremely carefully to what she was saying. She
asserted in her question that these locations are still
operating. If I may say so, she is making an assumption in doing
so—not an assumption that I am going to comment on, because it is
a matter that is under live investigation, as she will
appreciate. As soon as the Security Minister is able to comment
on this matter, he will come to the House and do so.
