Sunday 18 September 2022 11:05 AM Commons Speaker denies he was 'leant on' to allow Chinese officials to attend ... trends now

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, today denied he had been 'leant on' to allow Chinese officials to attend the Queen's lying-in-state at Westminster Hall.

There has been confusion over whether any Chinese representatives would be allowed to view Her Majesty's coffin following Beijing's sanctioning of MPs and peers last year.

It had previously been suggested that Chinese officials would not be allowed access to the parliamentary estate ahead of the Queen's funeral on Monday.

This is despite other foreign dignitaries being invited to attend the lying-in-state.

In response, China's foreign ministry suggested Britain was failing to show 'proper manners to guests'.

With the threat of a diplomatic row breaking out, parliamentary sources have now suggested that - should a Chinese delegation wish to attend the lying-in-state - they would be allowed to do so.

China's Vice-President Wang Qishan is set to attend the Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday on behalf of the country's President Xi Jinping.

Senior Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a leading critic of China, suggested 'enormous pressure' had been put on Sir Lindsay and Lords Speaker, Lord McFall, to avert a dispute with Beijing.

But Sir Lindsay this morning denied those claims as he insisted a parliamentary ban on China's ambassador to the UK, Zheng Zeguang, and other accredited Chinese diplomats remained in place.

This suggested that, should Vice-President Wang wish to attend Westminster Hall ahead of Monday's service, he would be allowed to do so as a representative of China's head of state - but Ambassador Zheng and other formal Chinese diplomats  are still not welcome in Parliament.

In September last year, China's ambassador was banned from attending an event in Parliament in retaliatory action for Beijing's sanctioning of MPs and peers.