China has hit out at British MPs, accusing them of “arrogance, ignorance and twisted mindset” as a row over steel between the two countries intensifies. A Chinese embassy spokesperson accused Britain of using “anti-China rhetoric” which it says could damage relations between Beijing and London in the coming years.

Last weekend, Britain was forced to take control of a Chinese-owned steel making site in Scunthorpe to ensure that raw materials reached its blast furnaces to allow them to continue to operate. Some MPs have accused the Chinese company of trying to deliberately allow the shut down to deny Britain the ability to produce virgin steel, while others have said that China should be barred from owning key national infrastructure in future. The Chinese spokesperson told Britian that they should direct their ire towards the United States and Donald Trump’s tariffs rather than “slandering the Chinese government and Chinese enterprises.”

They said: “British politicians just keep slandering the Chinese government and Chinese enterprises instead of criticizing the United States. What on earth are they up to?”

“Any words or deeds that politicise or maliciously hype up business issues will undermine the confidence of Chinese business investors in the UK and damage China-UK economic and trade cooperation.”

Former Conservative party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith is among those calling for the UK to prevent China from owning businesses in industries vital to UK interests.

He said: “This is a country which is committing genocide and where there is slave labour, the forced sterilisation of Uyghur women… They are about to dump steel, electric cars and batteries into our country.

“We cannot have other nations which are not part of the alliance owning Britain’s national infrastructure.

“We cannot continue allowing access to countries which do not play by the rules, and which do not have democracy and the rule of law.

“Not just steel but nuclear, the manufacture of high-tech equipment, tanks and engineering, aircraft manufacture.

“All these things have got to be run in the UK and we should only welcome investment from countries we can trust.”

Business Secretary Johnathan Reynolds, who played a key role in negotiations with Chinese company Jingye, said that he would not "personally bring a Chinese company into our steel sector" in future, before rowing back on the comments days later.

Industry minister Sarah Jones later refused to rule out the prospect of Chinese ownership in the UK in the future.

Last year, Sir Keir Starmer became the first UK leader in six years to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping, as he aims to manage a relationship that has become difficult in recent years.

It is expected that he will travel to China later this year to restart a joint economic and trade commission that has been paused since 2018.