BBC:

Starmer says he wants 'consistent' approach to China as he flies to Beijing

Summary

• Keir Starmer is heading to China for a three-day visit - the first time a UK prime minister has visited the country since 2018

• Starmer - who is travelling with around 60 British business and cultural leaders - will meet President Xi Jinping, and develop trade ties

• Speaking on the flight to China, Starmer says he wants "a comprehensive and consistent approach to China", rather than veering "from golden age to ice age"

• Starmer has previously said Beijing poses a "national security threat" to the UK, and he is expected to raise human rights issues

• "I've always raised issues that need to be raised," he tells reporters, while declining to go into specifics

An important moment for Starmer - and UK-China relationspublished at 18:28

18:28

Chris Mason
Political editor, travelling with the prime minister

This trip marks the latest and most important moment in the government’s attempt to deepen the UK’s relationship with China.

The chancellor, the deputy prime minister and the business secretary have all been already. Now it’s the Keir Starmer's turn.

He’s expressed his frustration at what he sees as a "dereliction of duty" from recent Conservative governments in shutting out Beijing. He points out the Canadian prime minister and French president have both been recently, and says the UK had become an "outlier" in its outlook on China among comparable Western economies.

Dozens of British outfits, corporate and cultural, are represented on this trip - including Barclays, Jaguar Land Rover, and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Sir Keir Starmer's argument is China is one of the world's biggest economic players, so a strategic and consistent relationship is in the UK's national interest.

And he insists engaging with Beijing allows issues such as human rights abuses to be raised with them.

But the Conservatives counter that with the recent approval of a new Chinese mega embassy in central London. Starmer's approach amounts to what they call "surrender" when China, as they put it, "poses a serious threat to our national security".