China has agreed to lift sanctions on British MPs and peers with immediate effect, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
The Prime Minister said a travel ban and other sanctions “no longer apply” to six parliamentarians who had faced restrictions.
China imposed the sanctions in 2021 with Conservative MPs Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Nusrat Ghani, Tom Tugendhat, Neil O'Brien, and Tim Loughton - who is no longer in Parliament - among those targeted.
Peers Baroness Kennedy and Lord Alton, who are all members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, were also sanctioned.
At the time then Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the sanctioned group were “shining a light” on “gross human rights violations” in China.
China has been accused of committing crimes against humanity against the Uyghur population and other mostly-Muslim ethnic groups in the north-western region of Xinjiang.
The Chinese government has denied all allegations of human rights abuses.
Sir Keir said he raised the sanctions in his talks on Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
He told the BBC the lifting of the restrictions “rather vindicates my approach because it's only because we're here that we have had the engagement and that has provided the opportunity for a leader-to-leader discussion on sensitive issues”.
He told ITV News: "This has been a cause of concern in Parliament and for parliamentarians for some time and that is why I raised it on this visit.”
But the group of parliamentarians affected warned they should not be used as a “bargaining chip” in talks with Beijing.
In a joint statement they said: “In response to rumours that Beijing is considering lifting sanctions on us in exchange for diplomatic and economic concessions, we wish to make our position unequivocally clear: we would rather remain under sanction indefinitely than have our status used as a bargaining chip to justify lifting British sanctions on those officials responsible for the genocide in Xinjiang.
“We would reject any deal that prioritises our personal convenience over the pursuit of justice for the Uighur people.
“We stand in total solidarity with our families, former colleagues, and the civil society organisations who remain targeted by the People's Republic of China.
“We will not accept any reprieve that applies only to sitting lawmakers while others, including civil society organisations, remain sanctioned.”
It is unclear whether the easing of sanctions will apply to Mr Loughton, who left Parliament at the 2024 election.
The Chinese foreign ministry said: “The two sides agreed in principle to resume normal exchanges between the legislatures of the two countries.
“China welcomes British parliamentarians who have the willingness to visit China more and experience the real China.”
The Prime Minister has faced criticism over his three three-day trip to China - the first by a British prime minister since 2018 - that comes amid concern about Chinese spying on the UK and came days after the approval of Beijing’s controversial new mega-embassy in London.
But the Government insists the trip is an attempt to thaw relations with the country, which is the second-biggest economy in the world behind the US.
US President Donald Trump has warned it would be “dangerous” for the UK to do business with China.
