Uyghur activist accuses Labour of failing to stand up to China

Rahima Mahmut holding a vigil outside the Foreign Office in London in February 2023. She has called on the UK to follow the US in labelling China’s actions as genocide. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/AFP/Getty Images

A leading Uyghur activist has accused the Labour government of “falling behind” its allies in failing to stand up to China, after ministers backtracked on plans to push for formal recognition of the country’s treatment of the minority group as genocide.

Speaking after David Lammy’s first visit to China as UK foreign secretary, the human rights activist Rahima Mahmut, who has lived in exile in the UK since 2000, said she had hoped there would be a shift in UK policy once the party came into power, including following the US in declaring a continuing genocide in Xinjiang.