Alicia Kearns has warned that Sir Keir Starmer’s “big propaganda visit” to China has made the UK “more vulnerable”.
The shadow national security minister has criticised the PM for his approach to the five-day trip.
She tells Sky News: “Over the last 18 months, we’ve seen an increase in cyber attacks against our country and businesses.
“We’ve seen a spy put at the heart of Parliament.
“We’ve seen continued support for the invasion of Ukraine, and we’ve seen Jimmy [Lai – a British national] held hostage.
“But rather than any deterrence against his activities or any repercussions for them, there have been none from the Labour government, and instead they’ve given Xi Jinping this propaganda visit without any preconditions.”
The prime minister’s spokesperson refused to rule out the possibility that President Xi could be invited to the UK in the future.
Kearns also attacks Starmer for being unwilling “to say Jimmy’s name the whole time that he was in China”.
The shadow minister adds: “If I was prime minister, I would have said in the months leading up to the visit that he’s got to end to these hostile acts against our country, and I will be bringing Jimmy Lai home with me.
“But instead, he went with no preconditions. Yet clearly something was set on him to approve the Chinese embassy and as a result, there is no deterrence. And that does make our country more vulnerable.”
Demand for more trade with China is ‘strategically naive’
She also hit out at the government for suggesting that “we have to go with this economic begging bowl – we absolutely do not”.
This approach is “strategically naive”, she adds.
“That trade relationship is not what is being suggested. We have a lot left within that relationship and we need to stand firm.”
Kemi Badenoch, Kearns’s party leader, has said she would not have travelled to China if she was PM.
Kearns insists: “You have to have deterrence and national security come before economic security.”
The government has repeatedly insisted national security is its top priority – but says China is the world’s second-largest economy, which is why it is seeking a closer relationship.