See below the full text of Luke Taylor MP's speech at the Chinese Embassy protest on Saturday 15th March 2025.

Human rights.

Freedom of speech, and worship, and artistic expression.

The rule of law.

These are not just words. Nor are they optimistic values. 

They are the cornerstone of a just international order.

After the Second World War, nations and peoples spanning the circumference of our world came together to do something radical,

And beautiful,

To lay that cornerstone at the very foundation of our systems.

And it is tempting to think that recent efforts to chip away at those foundations are a new thing,

Or that they represent the warning signs of a centre that cannot hold,

The creaking sounds that come before a collapse.

But that is not true.

We have always had to fight for freedom.

We have always had to stand up to tyranny and oppression.

It is in the struggle that we renew our commitment to these values,

And preserve the foundations for a new generation.

My party, the Liberal Democrats, have always believed Britain’s role in this world,

Is to embody a liberal, open, democratic, internationalist foreign policy.

And it is those values that lead me to stand in front of you today,

And say proudly,

“I am an ally of the people of Hong Kong,

“Not just because we share a commonwealth history,

“Not just because many of them are British Passport holders,

“But because we are all human beings,

“And we all deserve democracy,

“And liberty,

“And security”.

This protest is in the great tradition of that British pursuit of liberal values,

And I am so proud to see so many of you standing here defiantly,

No matter the risks and no matter the costs,

And I can tell you all that it has reminded me,

And should remind every Member of Parliament,

That we must never be afraid to tell foreign Governments in our dealings with them,

That we will not stand idly by whilst liberty is under attack,

We will call it out wherever we see it.

And efforts to enforce their repression on our own streets,

To bring their transnational oppression to our own communities,

Are a grave violation of our trust,

Of international security,

And not acceptable under any circumstances.

My party firmly believes that we must take a strong stance against the CCP and champion the rights of the people it seeks to silence. 

So I assure you today that the plans for the embassy’s relocation will be properly scrutinised by myself and my party -

And we will continue to hold the Government to account

On behalf of all of you.

Because in each of us lives “the calling of conscience”

And we cannot shrink from it,

And we must let it guide us towards a just

Liberal

And Peaceful

International order.