Mayor of West Midlands joins PM in China

The mayor of the West Midlands has joined Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in China for a three-day visit.

Richard Parker said the trip, for which Sir Keir has faced criticism from his opponents, was "about delivering for people back home".

Parker said the visit would be used "for meaningful engagement that can build new business links and relationships".

Discussing how the West Midlands could benefit, he said: "The [region] exports more goods to China than any other UK region, so having a consistent, pragmatic relationship with Beijing is firmly in our interest."

"Our region is also a global hub for electric vehicles, batteries and advanced manufacturing, all sectors offering significant opportunities for trade," Parker continued.

"I was here last year banging the drum for the West Midlands and landed some real investment, forging new partnerships and opportunities for our businesses and workers."

Parker said this "latest mission" will build on that success.

"By being here with the prime minister, British businesses and key partners from across our region, we are showing that Britain is serious about trade, serious about clean growth and serious about partnerships that make the UK - and regions like ours - better off," he explained.

In relation to the delegation's visit, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she would not be visiting China "at this time" if she were prime minister.

"We should be talking more to those countries who are aligned with our interests, not the country that is doing everything it can to undermine our economy," she said.

Sir Keir also faced criticism from the Liberal Democrats in the House of Commons, where deputy prime minister David Lammy stood in for him at his weekly question time session.

Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: "Whilst the Chinese regime still holds British citizen Jimmy Lai captive in prison, and whilst the Chinese regime continues to hunt down pro-democracy protesters on the streets of Britain with bounties on their heads, the British prime minister has gone cap in hand to China to ask for a trade deal on the promise of a super-embassy, from which the Chinese regime will continue to spy on us."

Her comments come after the government earlier this month gave the go-ahead to controversial plans for a Chinese mega-embassy in London.

Sir Keir declined to disclose what he would raise with Chinese leaders, saying "I don't want to get ahead of myself on the specifics".

"Part of the reason for engaging with China is so that issues where we disagree can be discussed, and the issues where we agree can be progressed, and so that's the approach," he added.

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