The same official quoted above said the review — expected to be completed in January — would provide ministers with a clear guide to which policy areas they could push for closer engagement with China on.
Another government official, also granted anonymity, said that while they were unaware of the details of the FIRS scheme, the decision to pursue a change in approach to China has been influenced by the U.K.’s finance ministry, the Treasury.
The FIRS scheme, meant to bring the U.K. into line with Five Eyes intelligence allies like Australia and the United States, would require anybody carrying out political activities in the U.K. at the direction of a foreign power to sign a register.
When a country is placed in the “enhanced” tier, ministers can extend registration requirements to include a broader range of activities, and to cover people operating on behalf of foreign government-controlled entities.
The delay to the Home Office scheme risks inflaming tensions with the U.K.’s security services, who have already warned their resources are being stretched by the rapid rise in state threat investigations over the last year.
“At a time our intelligence agencies are screaming from the rooftops about the threat from China, it is negligent in the extreme to remove from them one of the only tools they have to address it,” said Luke de Pulford, executive director of the hawkish Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China group.
