A British son in prison Hong Kong Media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai criticized the UK government’s failure to impose conditions on his father’s release during the prime minister’s visit to China last week.
Sebastian Loy made his point at a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday Father’s detention Not just a humanitarian and national security issue, but with him the issue of “where our values are locked”.
The comments came after the first visit to China by a UK leader in eight years, this time by Keir Starmer The former media tycoon raised the case and one of Hong Kong’s most important pro-democracy voices.
In December 2025, Lai, a British citizen, was convicted in December after a nearly two-year trial of national security crimes that international rights groups criticized as politically motivated and an attack on press freedom.
Weeks before the prime minister’s visit, Lai met with Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and discussed the importance of her father’s case, as the 78-year-old’s health deteriorated in solitary confinement.
“If it is so important, there must be certain conditions on my father’s release. It is a big deal that the embassy is also given this trip,” Lai said. All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs An investigation into his father’s case.
The UK government seeks closer ties with the world’s second-largest economy and last month approved a highly competitive new Chinese embassy in London. Although there are some obvious gains from the visit – visa waiver, lifting of sanctions on British MPs and peers, and investment China Criticism came from members of parliament questioning why the prime minister had gone to Beijing with the embassy “in our back pocket” without securing Lai’s release – through British institutions.
“My father ran out of time,” Lai said. “Surely the man who defends liberty deserves something of it.”
Lai was told that Starmer had raised his father’s case during his visit, although he had yet to meet the Prime Minister or the Foreign Secretary. There is no indication when his father will be sentenced, Sebastian said, adding that it would be a disaster for both governments if his father died in prison.
“It’s a tragedy that the only thing that came out of this trip wasn’t Johnny Walker Jimmy Lie,” said former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten, referring to a reduction in whiskey taxes agreed between the two countries during Starmer’s visit.
“We are told that PM Jimmy Lai has raised the case,” said Lord Patten. “What we don’t know is what the Chinese say in response … how far is their talk?”
Cavolfion Gallagher, head of Lai’s international legal team, who met Starmer and Cooper, noted the urgent shift on behalf of the government by KC – saying her strategy remains to be seen.
“We make no secret of the fact that we think it was a strategic mistake not to make a bet,” Gallagher said. “We feel that the UK has not necessarily played the cards it has.”
