Chinese investment of £600 million in UK ‘a start’, says Cabinet minister

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy China committing to putting £600 million in the UK is “a start” and “will lead to future investment”, a Cabinet minister has said. Mr Kyle said the UK has to reset its relationship with Beijing “in a way that delivers for our economy” while keeping “our country safe and resilient”, as China’s actions in Hong Kong and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have also been raised by opposition parties as barriers to more economic engagement. Tory shadow chancellor Mel Stride said Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ visit to China is “tone deaf” and she should be “reassuring” markets in the UK. “Now, if you absent yourself and go halfway around the world when bond yields are rocketing up, particularly in this country, with very serious consequences, then you need to be at your station reassuring those markets and I’m afraid it’s rather tone deaf to not have got that in the first place.” He claimed it would cost an additional £12 billion a year to pay for national debt as result of market change that “has real implications for people”.