The free delivery of a newspaper described as ‘Chinese Communist Party propaganda’ to MPs could be about to come to an end.
China Daily is automatically sent out to all 650 Members of Parliament, landing in Westminster every day without being asked for.
But Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has now asked for a review of the bulk mailing, following a question from Conservative shadow Home Office minister Alicia Kearns.
She said British taxpayers are ‘inadvertently funding the dissemination of Chinese Communist Party propaganda direct to MPs’ offices’ as a result of the arrangement.
The newspaper is ‘the only thing which arrives every day, without fail’, Kearns added.
Responding to the written question, Labour MP Nick Smith said: ‘China Daily has been delivered to our mail screening centre in bulk, addressed to all members since 2016.
‘There is an unsubscribing email address that is passed to members who no longer wish to receive it.
‘The bulk delivery has never been requested by the administration. However, the Speaker has now asked the Administration Committee to review the process of bulk mail deliveries including the related costs.’
China Daily is the only national English-language newspaper in China. Its website claims it has a print and online circulation of 350 million.
According to an annual report registered with the Chinese government in 2014, the paper’s ‘organiser’ is the state council information office, which forms part of Beijing’s central propaganda department.
Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith described China Daily as a ‘terrible propaganda sheet’, saying it ‘ought not to be in the building at all’.
Previously, the newspaper has praised the Chinese government’s policies against the Uyghur people for stopping women becoming ‘baby-making machines’.
Uyghur in Xinjiang province have been held in detention camps, and reports suggest forced sterilisation or contraception has been carried out on women.
Kearns said: ‘[China Daily’s] delivery should be banned as an unfriendly act of attempted foreign influence – the unsubscribe function does not work.
‘At the very least we would be saving huge amounts of paper from the bin – where I suspect all of this CCP propaganda ends up.’
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