Reform MP writes to Foreign Office demanding reparations from China over 'man-made Covid-19'

Rupert Lowe, an MP for Great Yarmouth, said he believes China played an 'undeniable role in the release' of the virus. Credit: PA

An MP says he has written to the Foreign Office (FCDO) urging it to "officially demand reparations from China" over the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rupert Lowe, a Reform UK MP, shared on X that he's asked the FCDO to look at requesting reparations from China over what he has called "their undeniable role in the release of the man-made Covid-19" - without providing evidence.

The MP for Great Yarmouth wrote on Monday: "As reparations have been making headlines, I've requested that the Foreign Office looks at officially demanding reparations from China for their undeniable role in the release of the man-made COVID-19..."

His comments come as Sir Keir Starmer and the King faced renewed calls in recent weeks for the UK to pay slavery and colonialism reparations when they visited Samoa for a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Lowe told ITV News: "We're constantly told we should be making reparations for events that took place before any of us were born - so why should the Chinese Communist Party be entirely absolved of blame for such a recent catastrophe in which they played such a central role?"

"China's role in the release of Covid-19 was undeniable, and its responsibility for its production is still very much up for debate," he added. "Who knows where the real truth lies, but the Chinese Communist Party must take huge responsibility for inflicting COVID on the world."The subsequent madness of lockdown was not directly their fault, but their dishonesty and deception on Covid-19's origins must not be forgotten."

The FCDO, in a statement to ITV News, did not comment on the topic of reparations but said the UK Government agrees with the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Director-General Tedros who said "all hypotheses remain open".

Lowe is not the first politician to call for Covid reparations from China. President-elect Donald Trump also previously said that should he be elected for a second term, he would push for the nation to pay reparations.

China has vehemently denied that a lab accident was the source of the pandemic.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson recently said he believes the pandemic was caused by a leak from a laboratory in China and not the result of animal-to-human transmission in a Wuhan animal market.

Writing in his memoir Unleashed, serialised in the Daily Mail, Johnson claimed: "It now looks overwhelmingly likely that the mutation was the result of some botched experiment in a Chinese lab.

"Some scientists were clearly splicing bits of virus together like the witches in Macbeth – eye of bat and toe of frog – and oops, the frisky little critter jumped out of the test tube and started replicating all over the world."

Previously, Johnson had claimed traditional Chinese medicine practices, which he described as "demented", were to blame for the outbreak of Covid.

In early 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) concluded in early 2021 that the origins of Covid most likely came from bats, through another animal, and into humans.

The study, conducted between the WHO and China, found the possibility of a lab leak setting off the pandemic was "extremely unlikely".

The FCDO told ITV News in a statement: “The UK government has been clear that a robust, transparent, and science-led investigation into the origins of COVID must be an important part of the international effort to understand how the pandemic started and how it spread.

"We continue to support the World Health Organisation (WHO) in its expert study of the origins of Covid-19. WHO Director-General Tedros has said that all hypotheses remain open, and the UK agrees.

"It is important that China and other countries cooperate fully with the researchers.”


Have you heard our podcast Talking Politics? Tom, Robert and Anushka dig into the biggest issues dominating the political agenda in every episode