Labour Government Did Not Pursue Legal Advice On Uyghur Genocide Despite Pre-Election Pledge
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Keir Starmer’s Labour government never sought legal guidance towards recognising China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims as genocide, despite a pre-election pledge to do so, PoliticsHome can reveal.
Ahead of the 2024 general election, then shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said a Labour government would pursue legal routes towards classifying Beijing’s repressive acts as genocide.
In 2023, Lammy said he would “act multilaterally with our partners” to pursue this recognition if his party won the general election.
But a freedom of information (FOI) response to PoliticsHome has revealed that the government had not sought legal advice to this end after entering office.
An initial FOI response from the Cabinet Office refused to confirm or deny whether legal advice on the matter had been pursued since 5 July, 2024, the day Starmer assumed office as prime minister.
Following a request for internal review, the Cabinet Office admitted it was not sought between early July 2024 and the date when the FOI was submitted, 4 March 2026.
In recent years, the Chinese government has come under scrutiny over allegations of mass human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in its western Xinjiang province.
Human rights groups have reported that as many as one million Uyghurs may have been arbitrarily detained in “re-education camps”, where many are believed to have been subjected to torture, forced labour and involuntary sterilisation.
The Chinese government denies any human rights abuses and has insisted the Xinjiang camps are training facilities designed to counter terrorism. The Chinese Embassy in the UK did not respond to PoliticsHome’s request for comment.
However, an independent tribunal in 2021 chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice concluded that China had committed genocide against the Uyghurs, citing reports of forced sterilisations as a key factor behind its verdict.
The House of Commons passed a non-binding motion that same year accusing China of genocide, but the British government has not followed suit.
Despite Lammy’s pre-election statement, various outlets including The Telegraph reported in summer 2024 that Labour was backtracking on this pledge after assuming office. Lammy did not respond to PoliticsHome’s requests for comment.
Starmer’s administration oversaw a warming of Sino-British relations, during which time he became the first UK prime minister to visit China in more than eight years. The former PM said the UK should be "clear-eyed" about Beijings threats, but engage with the country where it serves the national interest, particularly economically.
Rahima Mahmut, a UK-based Uyghur activist who leads the charity Stop Uyghur Genocide, told PoliticsHome: “It is deeply concerning that the government has not sought legal advice or guidance on whether China’s treatment of Uyghurs should be recognised as genocide, despite the commitment made before the 2024 election.”
“The government should urgently seek the necessary legal advice, revive its pledge on genocide recognition, and set out what concrete action it will take to hold China accountable.”
The government argues that the determination of genocide is a matter for the courts. Five instances of genocide are recognised by the British government, which are the Nazi Holocaust, the genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia and Srebrenica and that against the Yazidis.
Co-Founder of Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China Luke de Pulford told PoliticsHome: “Labour's position in opposition was that China was prosecuting genocide against Uyghurs and others.
“As soon as officials got their teeth into them, this evaporated entirely, replaced by hollow promises to seek legal advice, which, it turns out, they had no intention of doing.
“This is an appalling betrayal of Uyghur victims, whose cause Labour supported so fervently before they came to power.”
Earlier this month, Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran tabled a question in Parliament asking Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, "whether he is taking steps to raise concerns regarding the human rights of the Uyghur Muslims in China".
Responding to the FOI, she told PoliticsHome it is "disappointing" that Labour had not followed through on its pre-election commitment, and called on Miliband to "waste no time in honouring this pledge and take all reasonable steps to raise concerns about human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region with his Chinese counterparts as a matter of urgency".
The Foreign Office and Cabinet Office did not issue any statement in response to PoliticsHome’s requests for comment.
It is understood that the British government routinely raises concerns with the Chinese government and co-ordinates international efforts to hold Beijing to account for human rights violations.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham raised the issue of human rights in his first phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, according to a No 10 readout.
