January 23, 2025 – Yesterday in the British Parliament, Blair McDougall MP introduced the ‘Jimmy Lai Bill,’ which aims to provide a legal right to consular access for British journalists detained abroad. Formally known as the ‘Consular Assistance (Journalists) Bill,’ the bill aims to shield British reporters who are arbitrarily detained or held hostage by state actors.
The bill will be read a second time on March 7.
Currently, the United Kingdom offers no legal right to consular assistance for British nationals abroad. Instead, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) provides consular assistance at its discretion. The FCDO's Consular Charter outlines the office’s services but does not guarantee they will be rendered. The “Jimmy Lai Bill,” named after the UK’s most prominent arbitrarily detained citizen, follows a previous attempt to legislate a right to consular access, the Consular Assistance Bill, presented in 2024 by Christine Jardine MP.
The 'Jimmy Lai Bill' primarily focuses on ensuring the safety of British journalists working abroad such as Jimmy Lai, who is now being held in solitary confinement in Hong Kong. During his four years in prison, not once has Lai been visited by a British official. The current Labour government has said publicly that securing the release of Jimmy Lai is a top priority.
The bill was presented by Blair McDougall and supported by other MPs including Alex Barros-Curtis, Rachel Blake, Phil Brickell, Alistair Carmichael, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Chris Law, Connor Rand, Marie Rimmer, Alex Sobel, and Tom Tugendhat.
Mark Sabah, Director at the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, said:
“While in opposition, the now Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said he would introduce a legal right for all British citizens detained abroad to receive consular assistance if Labour were to form a government. We want David Lammy and the British government to keep their promises and, given that they have yet to do so, we have taken this step to kickstart the process. British citizen Jimmy Lai is an iconic figure symbolic of the British government’s failure to support its citizens abroad. Being a British citizen should mean the government does everything in its power to help wrongfully detained individuals get back home.”
Blair McDougall MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong, said:
“We live in a world where authoritarian strongmen seek to punish and imprison the journalists who scrutinise them. The case of Jimmy Lai typifies the bravery of those who seek the uncorrupted truth, despite knowing the risks to themselves. Jimmy Lai, a British journalist, is in failing health after years of solitary confinement and now faces trial by a prejudiced court. The least he deserves, and all British journalists deserve, is the knowledge that support from their own government is legally guaranteed.”
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