The UK wants to avoid “trade issues” with China, Gillian Keegan said this morning as she defended the Government’s cyber attack sanctions on Beijing amid a backlash from prominent Tory MPs. 

Ms Keegan, the Education Secretary, said the UK would be “firm” in its dealings with China but said there also needed to be an appreciation of the complexity of Britain’s relationship with Beijing. 

The Government announced yesterday that China state-affiliated actors were behind two cyber attacks - one on the Electoral Commission and one against parliamentarians - as it sanctioned two individuals and a company. 

Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, labelled the sanctions “feeble” while Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, said they were “pathetic”. 

Ms Keegan told GB News this morning: “It is a complex issue, clearly. What they’ve said is there are sanctions obviously for what the National Cyber Security Centre have said have been breaches and there are two individuals that have been sanctioned and there is some other travel restrictions as well. 

“And what Oliver [Dowden] has said is that is the first step along the way. I will be going to Cabinet after this morning round so we will be, I guess, talking about it there. But I do recognise the complexity because clearly starting some sort of trade issues is what we want to avoid as well.”

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