British MP refused entry in Hong Kong on family visit

British Member of Parliament Wera Hobhouse was refused entry into Hong Kong, an incident the U.K. foreign minister called “deeply concerning.”

Hobhouse, a Liberal Democrat from Bath, was travelling to visit her newly born grandson with her husband when she was stopped by airport security, questioned and eventually sent home, according to The Times.

“I am the first MP to be refused entry on arrival to Hong Kong since 1997,” Hobhouse wrote in a post on BlueSky, referring to the end of British colonial rule of the city. “Authorities gave me no explanation for this cruel and upsetting blow,” she said.

The U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy should “seek answers” from Beijing, Hobhouse said.

Lammy called the news “deeply concerning” and said the U.K. government will “urgently raise this with the authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing to demand an explanation,” according to the Guardian.

Lammy said it is “unacceptable” that an MP is “denied entry for simply expressing their views,” connecting Hobhouse’s treatment with her work on China.

Hobhouse is a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a group of MPs from countries ranging from Japan to Canada coordinating to monitor and scrutinize Beijing. She has been vocal about human rights issues in Tibet and Hong Kong.

“This incident, the first of its kind since Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong, coincides with U.K. ministers visiting China and Hong Kong to develop trade and investment links,” IPAC wrote in a statement on X. “That the Hong Kong authorities felt able to deny entry to a sitting parliamentarian while simultaneously hosting U.K. Ministers is an insult to Parliament,” it said.

China has been cracking down on civil liberties in Hong Kong since 2019, leading to a deterioration in relations with the U.K. and other European countries.