Foreign Interference

Lincoln Jopp Excerpts

Thursday 11th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Security (Dan Jarvis)]

This has been an excellent debate. I extend my gratitude to the hon. Member for Lewes (James MacCleary) for securing this debate on the pervasive challenge of foreign interference. The hon. Member made a very good speech, in which he spoke knowledgably and authoritatively about the complex nature of the threats we face, which, along with the range of points raised by Members, illustrates the diverse and evolving nature of the foreign interference threat landscape.

In just the last few years, we have seen attempts to influence our political system through: covert donations, as we saw with MI5’s disruptive alert on Christine Lee and the conviction of Reform UK’s leader in Wales, Nathan Gill, for bribery offences in November; the issuing of arrest warrants and bounties by the Hong Kong police on individuals for exercising their freedom of expression; Russian information operations spreading false pro-Kremlin narratives online to undermine support for Ukraine; and the recent and much-publicised concerns about activities in this place. As the Prime Minister said just last week, the Government are clear that China poses national security threats to the UK.

When these threats are left unchecked, they place at risk the things we value most about our country: our democratic values and freedom of expression, and our ability to pursue long-term economic growth. Upholding national security is the first duty of Government, and we continue to take all the measures necessary to disrupt these threats.

As Security Minister, I am deeply committed to using my position to cohere cross-Government efforts to make our country a harder target for these threat actors. The legislative foundation of the UK’s defence against foreign interference lies in the National Security Act 2023. The Act has overhauled our espionage laws and introduced a crucial new foreign interference offence, equipping our security and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to disrupt state threats in the UK.

The Prime Minister is absolutely committed to strengthening the resilience of our democratic institutions. That is why he renewed the mandate of the defending democracy taskforce, and I am leveraging that taskforce to co-ordinate the delivery of the Government’s counter-political interference and espionage action plan.

[Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)]

The Minister mentioned the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister, of course, appointed Lord Mandelson to be our ambassador in America. For those seven months, someone had politically fatal kompromat on Lord Mandelson. I am not asking the Minister to give away any secrets, but could he tell us that he has personally investigated whether the presence of that kompromat left Lord Mandelson subject to foreign influence, or whether he knows the answer to that question one way or the other?

[Dan Jarvis]

I am grateful to the hon. and gallant Member. I would gently say that his intervention is not in keeping with the tone of what has been a good-natured and constructive debate, but he has asked the question and I can give him the assurances he seeks.

The action plan will deliver a protective security campaign to support those at risk to recognise, resist and report attempts of foreign interference, to strengthen existing legislation to mitigate the threat, and to co-ordinate action to disrupt the use of proxy actors. In line with our pledge to strengthen legislation, we are also introducing tougher rules on political donations through the elections Bill in order to protect our democracy. The Government believe that foreign money has no place in the UK’s political system, which is why the law is clear that foreign donations are not permitted. Yet as the tactics and techniques of foreign interference actors evolve, UK rules and safeguards also need to adapt.

Cross-Government work also continues at pace to counter foreign information operations. Our immediate focus is getting the Online Safety Act 2023 implemented quickly and effectively. The foreign interference offence in that Act places clear requirements on platforms to tackle illegal state-linked disinformation targeting the UK and our democratic processes. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is also driving a whole-of-society response to strengthening UK resilience against the threat, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has demonstrated relentless international leadership in imposing costs on Russian state-linked threat actors that seek to undermine our democratic elections and spread malign content through deceptive means.