Parliamentarians urge Foreign Secretary to stand up for UK elected representatives following MP’s denial of entry to Hong Kong

Today, 12 parliamentarians, including Hong Kong Watch Patrons Lord Alton of Liverpool and Blair McDougall, Labour MP for East Renfrewshire, urged the Foreign Secretary to take action against Hong Kong officials, following the recent decision by the Hong Kong government to deny entry to Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath.

On Thursday 10th April, Ms Hobhouse was denied entry to Hong Kong by border security. She had planned to visit the city in a personal capacity, to see her newborn grandson and other family members who live in Hong Kong. On arriving in Hong Kong, Ms Hobhouse was held at airport security, had her passport confiscated and luggage searched, and was questioned by immigration officials.

The Foreign Secretary, the Rt Hon David Lammy MP, promised to urgently raise the issue with authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing, adding that it would be “unacceptable for an MP to be denied entry for simply expressing their views as a parliamentarian”.

However, in the two weeks since the incident, there has been little public indication of further action in response to this retaliatory action by the Hong Kong government.

In a joint letter to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the signatories urge the Foreign Secretary, the Rt Hon David Lammy MP, to take decisive action, including the consideration of targeted sanctions on Hong Kong officials, to stand up for UK parliamentarians and their right to speak out on human rights abuses.

You can read the letter here.

Hong Kong Watch Patron and Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Lord Alton of Liverpool, commented: 

“If banning an MP for speaking out on China and Hong Kong is unacceptable, then the UK government should demonstrate publicly that it will not accept such actions by the Hong Kong government. 

We know that many Ministers have recently visited China and Hong Kong, looking to increase economic cooperation. But we must send a strong signal that a willingness to cooperate on trade is not an invitation to the Chinese and Hong Kong governments to punish elected UK representatives who speak out on human rights issues. I urge the UK government to demonstrate that it will stand up for our parliamentarians and our democratic values.”

英議員被拒入境香港兩週未見跟進 跨黨派議員聯署促外相制裁港官捍衛民主

今天，香港監察贊助人奧爾頓勳爵（Lord Alton of Liverpool）和代表蘇格蘭East Renfrewshire選區的工黨議員麥道國（Blair McDougall MP）等12位英國國會議員就代表巴芙（Bath）選區的自由民主黨議員Wera Hobhouse MP被拒入境香港一事去信外交大臣，促請對香港官員採取行動。

4月10日（星期四），Wera Hobhouse MP被香港當局拒絕入境。她以個人身分來港，打算探望新生孫兒和其他住在香港的家人。然而，她在機場接受安檢時被扣留，護照被沒收，行李被搜查，並被入境處職員問話。

英國外交大臣林德偉（David Lammy）承諾將緊急向香港和北京當局提出事件，並補充，「國會議員純粹因為以議員身分表達觀點而被拒絕入境是不能接受的」。

然而，事件發生兩週以來，英國政府仍未有公開表示將對港府這種報復行為採取進一步行動。

在致外交、聯邦及發展事務部的聯署信中，議員敦促外相林德偉採取果斷行動，包括考慮點名制裁香港官員，挺身捍衛英國國會議員及其就侵犯人權行為發聲的權利。

你可以在這裏閱覽聯署信。

英國國會人權聯合委員會主席、香港監察贊助人奧爾頓勳爵表示：

「如果禁止一名議員就中國和香港議題發表言論是不能接受的，那麼英國政府應該公開表明不會接受香港政府這種行為。

我們知道，多位大臣最近訪問了中國和香港，尋求加強經濟合作。但我們必須強烈表明，願意在貿易上合作並不代表中國和香港政府可以懲罰就人權議題發聲的英國民選代表。我敦促英國政府展示出挺身捍衛我們議員和民主價值的決心。」