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Confucius Institutes at universities across England are under threat from new free speech rules, setting off urgent talks between ministers, vice-chancellors and regulators over the fate of the China-backed language and culture centres.
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Universities fear that the new regulations imposed by the Office for Students (OfS) this month will cause legal headaches with their Chinese partners, including the government in Beijing, and could lead to some being closed.
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University leaders claim they have been left in the dark by England’s regulator over whether or not they are breaking the new rules, which bar foreign governments from vetting staff employed at the institutes.
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The 20 Confucius Institutes operating in England – including at the universities of Manchester, Coventry and Liverpool – are partnerships between each university, a Chinese university, and an arm of the Chinese state that provides funding. They offer Mandarin classes and promote cultural events but critics allege they also act as a Trojan horse within the education system.
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The Department for Education (DfE) said it “welcomed a range of international partnerships with UK higher education” but that they had to comply with UK laws and regulations.
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“It is for individual higher education providers to assess whether the criteria of existing arrangements would have the effect of restricting free speech and take steps to address that,” the DfE said.
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The government should greatly expand family centres under the Sure Start brand to help win back Reform voters in former Labour heartlands, a commission backed by Labour politicians has said.
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Hilary Armstrong, the Labour peer and former cabinet minister, was among those pressing for a fuller reintroduction of family centres under the Sure Start label, saying it would help to rebuild trust in neighbourhoods damaged by austerity.
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Armstrong is chair of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods, which said its polling showed 62% of people recognised the Sure Start brand, and that 76% would like to see it revived.
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Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, announced last month that one-stop-shop family hubs similar to Sure Start would be introduced throughout England to give parents advice and support.
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The £500m project will open up to 1,000 centres from April 2026, meaning every council in England will have a family hub by 2028. It will be called Best Start and will build on the existing family hubs and the start for life programme to provide a single point of access for services in health, education and wellbeing services.
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The policy forms part of the government’s push to replace services lost since 2010, which include the closure of more than 1,400 Sure Start centres.
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At their peak under Gordon Brown, there were more than 3,600 Sure Start centres, which were considered one of the previous Labour government’s biggest achievements.
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Heathrow has submitted its “shovel-ready” plans for a third runway as part of a £50bn investment, as the government said expanding Europe’s largest airport could create 100,000 jobs and drive growth.
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The 2-mile (3.2km) runway expansion would cross a diverted M25 and allow more than 750 additional flights a day over London, helping bring the total annual number of passengers to 150 million.
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Environmental campaigners called it a “doomed scheme” that would release millions of tonnes of CO2 while benefiting only a small minority of rich flyers.
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Heathrow said that with government support it could obtain planning permission by 2029 and have the runway in operation by 2035.
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Its proposals remain essentially the same as those submitted in 2019 and approved in principle by the government and MPs. That scheme survived a brief block on climate grounds sparked by legal challenges from campaigners, overturned on appeal in 2020.
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However, the plans were put on hold as passenger numbers dropped during the pandemic. The shareholders in the airport, which include the French private equity firm Ardian and Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s sovereign wealth funds, are seeking legislative change, as well as long-term political support, before filing a full planning application.
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Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has strongly endorsed expansion, but Heathrow is seeking firm policy guarantees after previous runway plans were overturned.
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Good morning and welcome to the UK politics blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news lines throughout the day.
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We start with news that the Treasury should consider a wealth tax to close the growing gap in the public finances, according to a Labour former shadow chancellor.
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Anneliese Dodds, who held the role under Keir Starmer in opposition, said ministers must have a “full and frank discussion” with the public about the “really big decisions” they had to take at this autumn’s budget.
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With Rachel Reeves aiming to fill a financial hole that economists say could exceed £20bn, the senior Labour MP said there was “no silver bullet” to funding big-ticket items such as defence, but the chancellor should consider tax rises.
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Dodds quit her post as international development minister in February over the government’s decision to slash the aid budget to pay for increased defence spending – a move she said was a mistake that would have a big impact on global security.
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With Russia and China already stepping into the gap to boost their own global influence, she said now was not the time for the UK to be “walking back” from using soft power.
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Read the full report here:
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Reeves is visit Scotland later today. She will visit RAF Lossiemouth in Moray and the St Fergus gas plant in Aberdeenshire on Friday.
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The chancellor is expected to meet with 200 Boeing employees at the Lossiemouth military base, where three E-7 Wedgetail aircraft are being worked on, the National reports.
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The UK government has previously said that its plan to increase defence spending to 2.6% of GDP could boost the economy by around 0.3% and create 26,100 jobs in Scotland.
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In other developments:
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The UK’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state is compliant with international law, a minister has said, after a group of peers raised concerns that it did not meet the legal bar.
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Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, defended the fact that the government’s plan for recognising Palestinian statehood does not involve firm “conditions” being placed on Hamas, saying the government could not make the decision conditional on what Hamas does because it does not negotiate with terrorist organisations.
- \n
Nine out of 10 nurses have rejected their 3.6% pay award for this year and warned that they could strike later this year unless their salaries are improved.
- \n
Mary-Ann Stephenson has been confirmed as the new chair of the equalities watchdog, after the government overruled the objections of parliament’s equalities committee over her suitability for the job.
\n
\n
\n
\n
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Key events
China-backed centres at UK universities under threat from new free speech laws
Richard Adams
Confucius Institutes at universities across England are under threat from new free speech rules, setting off urgent talks between ministers, vice-chancellors and regulators over the fate of the China-backed language and culture centres.
Universities fear that the new regulations imposed by the Office for Students (OfS) this month will cause legal headaches with their Chinese partners, including the government in Beijing, and could lead to some being closed.
University leaders claim they have been left in the dark by England’s regulator over whether or not they are breaking the new rules, which bar foreign governments from vetting staff employed at the institutes.
The 20 Confucius Institutes operating in England – including at the universities of Manchester, Coventry and Liverpool – are partnerships between each university, a Chinese university, and an arm of the Chinese state that provides funding. They offer Mandarin classes and promote cultural events but critics allege they also act as a Trojan horse within the education system.
The Department for Education (DfE) said it “welcomed a range of international partnerships with UK higher education” but that they had to comply with UK laws and regulations.
“It is for individual higher education providers to assess whether the criteria of existing arrangements would have the effect of restricting free speech and take steps to address that,” the DfE said.
Labour urged to revive Sure Start label to win back Reform voters
Rowena Mason
The government should greatly expand family centres under the Sure Start brand to help win back Reform voters in former Labour heartlands, a commission backed by Labour politicians has said.
Hilary Armstrong, the Labour peer and former cabinet minister, was among those pressing for a fuller reintroduction of family centres under the Sure Start label, saying it would help to rebuild trust in neighbourhoods damaged by austerity.
Armstrong is chair of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods, which said its polling showed 62% of people recognised the Sure Start brand, and that 76% would like to see it revived.
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, announced last month that one-stop-shop family hubs similar to Sure Start would be introduced throughout England to give parents advice and support.
The £500m project will open up to 1,000 centres from April 2026, meaning every council in England will have a family hub by 2028. It will be called Best Start and will build on the existing family hubs and the start for life programme to provide a single point of access for services in health, education and wellbeing services.
The policy forms part of the government’s push to replace services lost since 2010, which include the closure of more than 1,400 Sure Start centres.
At their peak under Gordon Brown, there were more than 3,600 Sure Start centres, which were considered one of the previous Labour government’s biggest achievements.
Heathrow submits ‘shovel-ready’ plans for third runway
Gwyn Topham
Heathrow has submitted its “shovel-ready” plans for a third runway as part of a £50bn investment, as the government said expanding Europe’s largest airport could create 100,000 jobs and drive growth.
The 2-mile (3.2km) runway expansion would cross a diverted M25 and allow more than 750 additional flights a day over London, helping bring the total annual number of passengers to 150 million.
Environmental campaigners called it a “doomed scheme” that would release millions of tonnes of CO2 while benefiting only a small minority of rich flyers.
Heathrow said that with government support it could obtain planning permission by 2029 and have the runway in operation by 2035.
Its proposals remain essentially the same as those submitted in 2019 and approved in principle by the government and MPs. That scheme survived a brief block on climate grounds sparked by legal challenges from campaigners, overturned on appeal in 2020.
However, the plans were put on hold as passenger numbers dropped during the pandemic. The shareholders in the airport, which include the French private equity firm Ardian and Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s sovereign wealth funds, are seeking legislative change, as well as long-term political support, before filing a full planning application.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has strongly endorsed expansion, but Heathrow is seeking firm policy guarantees after previous runway plans were overturned.
Government urged to consider wealth tax as chancellor visits Scotland
Good morning and welcome to the UK politics blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news lines throughout the day.
We start with news that the Treasury should consider a wealth tax to close the growing gap in the public finances, according to a Labour former shadow chancellor.
Anneliese Dodds, who held the role under Keir Starmer in opposition, said ministers must have a “full and frank discussion” with the public about the “really big decisions” they had to take at this autumn’s budget.
With Rachel Reeves aiming to fill a financial hole that economists say could exceed £20bn, the senior Labour MP said there was “no silver bullet” to funding big-ticket items such as defence, but the chancellor should consider tax rises.
Dodds quit her post as international development minister in February over the government’s decision to slash the aid budget to pay for increased defence spending – a move she said was a mistake that would have a big impact on global security.
With Russia and China already stepping into the gap to boost their own global influence, she said now was not the time for the UK to be “walking back” from using soft power.
Read the full report here:
Reeves is visit Scotland later today. She will visit RAF Lossiemouth in Moray and the St Fergus gas plant in Aberdeenshire on Friday.
The chancellor is expected to meet with 200 Boeing employees at the Lossiemouth military base, where three E-7 Wedgetail aircraft are being worked on, the National reports.
The UK government has previously said that its plan to increase defence spending to 2.6% of GDP could boost the economy by around 0.3% and create 26,100 jobs in Scotland.
In other developments:
