Business and Trade Committee — hearing of 30 June 2026: transcript & video · Polyfact

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Business and Trade Committee

30 June 2026

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Contents updated on 30 Jun 2026

Cross‑government approach to China including the cooperate–challenge–compete framework, NSC coordination and signalling of economic‑security risks, followed by scrutiny of trade defence, subsidies and procurement tools, and concluding with detailed examination of forced‑labour import measures, due‑diligence regimes and national‑security reviews of Chinese investment.

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UK–China strategy, trade defence and forced labour

19:14

Cross‑government China strategy, governance and business risk

19:14

Committee opening and overall China trade strategy

19:14

Committee opening and query on China strategy

19:14

Minister: cooperate, challenge and compete with China

20:19

Government coherence question — multiple departmental China plans

22:30

Chair: business uncertainty over China risk

24:04

Minister: advice services and sectoral sensitivity

25:00

Trade Commissioner: operational China trade priorities

26:47

Minister: managing China alongside other partners

28:04

Government China governance and decision structures

29:05

Accountability for China policy and Huawei decision

29:05

NSC and NSI Act: how China decisions are taken

31:14

Case study: process for potential quotas on Chinese cars

32:12

Officials’ China coordination and case-by-case analysis

33:38

Resourcing China decisions and concerns over pace

35:44

Improving Whitehall decision-making and strategic space

36:58

Ministerial attendance and NSC decision transmission

40:18

Cross-Whitehall trade mandates and business visibility

42:14

Business risk signalling and China services strategy

43:27

Risk signalling to business and SME engagement in China

43:27

Services partnerships, FTAs and critical import dependence

45:56

China services feasibility, Supply Chains Centre and economic‑security framework

48:40

Trade defence, subsidies, procurement tools and industrial exposure

52:34

Chinese subsidies, trade remedies and UK industrial exposure

52:34

Unlevel playing field — steel measures and critical minerals

52:34

Trade Remedies Authority — tools, access and business reluctance

55:05

Systemic China shock 2.0 and UK industrial exposure

58:14

Procurement preferences, trade tools and critical minerals

01:02:42

Domestic preference in procurement vs free and fair trade

01:02:42

Anti‑coercion options and allied critical‑minerals strategy

01:04:19

Defence textiles — domestic supply and MOD procurement

01:07:35

China trade, security and forced labour measures

01:10:38

Forced labour blacklist, import bans and legislative delays

01:10:38

Q—Chris Law: Uyghur forced labour and import bans

01:10:38

Forced labour reforms — obstacles, timing and Whitehall process

01:14:13

China-related investment security and trade policy

01:18:29

Chinese buses and IoT tech in UK infrastructure

01:18:29

Mingyang exclusion — investment security and devolved roles

01:21:28

Mercosur trade talks and cross‑Whitehall constraints

01:26:11

Zero‑hours contracts — definitions, thresholds and worker coverage

01:31:21

Zero‑hours contracts — inquiry focus and thresholds debate

01:31:21

Inquiry opening and unions on zero‑hours thresholds

01:31:21

New session opening — employment rights and zero‑hours focus

01:31:21

UNISON: social care, variable hours and threshold risks

01:35:43

Retail and hospitality employers — support with flexibility concerns

01:37:32

Retail and hospitality employers: backing intent, warning on flexibility

01:37:32

Q—Members vs employers: 12‑week reference period

01:40:32

Unions vs employers: support for 12‑week period

01:46:36

Low‑hours contracts — defining thresholds and gaming risks

01:50:42

Defining low‑hours contracts and threshold level

01:50:42

Logistics sector — zero‑hours contracts and poverty impacts

01:54:49

Threshold levels — gaming risks and lack of employer modelling

01:57:49

Scope of workforce rights and exemptions

01:59:58

Agency workers — scope of rights and operational constraints

01:59:58

Agency workers — unions urge equal treatment and closing loopholes

01:59:58

Agency workers — employer concerns over practicality and seasonal peaks

02:03:45

Union access exemptions and youth workers — union stance

02:05:58

Exemptions from new rights and youth workers — union opposition

02:05:58

Union access rights — social care and small employers

02:08:32

Union access, CAC sanctions and Fair Work Agency

02:11:46

Union access regime and CAC enforcement

02:11:46

Union access regime — employer and SME concerns

02:11:46

Employer views — practicalities of workplace and digital access

02:11:46

SMEs, compliance costs and weekly access concerns

02:14:13

CAC enforcement and sanctions under Employment Rights Act

02:18:55

Enforcement, CAC role and sanctions for hostile employers

02:18:55

Fair Work Agency mandate, targeting and enforcement

02:24:48

Fair Work Agency set‑up, remit and record‑keeping duties

02:24:48

Opening with Fair Work Agency — set‑up, remit and resourcing

02:24:48

Record‑keeping, holiday pay enforcement and aligned advice with ACAS

02:32:53

FWA vs ACAS — enforcement focus and remit

02:38:22

Intelligence‑led targeting: survey evidence and sectoral risk

02:39:47

Using the Working Lives Survey to target gaps

02:39:47

Sector‑based and geographical enforcement strategy

02:43:03

Enforcement approach: grey economy, visibility and worker protection

02:45:21

Grey economies and multi‑agency high‑street enforcement

02:45:21

Visible, impactful enforcement and media profile

02:46:07

Compliance‑first model and self‑reporting by employers

02:47:57

Targeting extreme abuses — collaboration, intelligence and worker voice

02:49:13

Risk modelling, unionised vs non‑unionised workplaces and victim support

02:51:53

Agency capacity, government steer and future direction

02:54:56

Agency capacity, organisational change and needs from government

02:54:56

Strategic steer, deregulation wording and simplifying compliance

02:58:22

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Business and Trade Committee

30 June 2026

Business and Trade Committee Tue, 30 Jun 2026 Actual start 14:15 House of Commons

19:14 - 20:07

Speaker 1

Order, order. Welcome to today's session of the Business and Trade Select Committee as we pursue the last session in our inquiry on China. Thank you very much indeed to Chris Bryant for joining us, and thank you Kate and Lewis for helping Sir Chris get the answers correct. Not that he needs any help. Right.

We'll see. Let's kick off, Sir Chris, on just tell us, not the slogan, because we know what the slogan is, just unpack what is the China strategy? We had the China audit and that took stock about what was going on with China across government, and it was not published, but bits of it were in the various security documents.

Is there actually a China strategy that ministers use to take a read when they're making decisions?

20:07 - 20:55

Speaker 2

Well a lot of the China strategy is in the trade strategy and and there is a slogan as you know. I actually slightly disagree with the slogan because the slogan now only has two parts in it and I think it should have three parts in it. But the slogan does explain part of the strategy. So we the two bits that are still in this slogan are that we want to cooperate where we can and where we must and challenge where we must. I think we also need to compete where we must and that's why so for instance in after when the Prime Minister went to China he was very keen that we should end up with talking about services exports because one of the things the UK is phenomenally good at as you know is services exports.

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