As Zhao Leji welcomed the prime minister, the chairman said it was "significant" to develop the UK-China relationship "well" given the "changing and turbulent international landscape".

He also praised Starmer's efforts on improving relations, saying the countries were now on "the correct track to improvement and development" and "positive progress has been made".

The prime minister added: "This is a historic visit, the first by a British prime minister in eight years.

"We have made this trip because I believe it is strongly in our common interest to find positive ways to work together, and that has been our long-standing position.

"I look forward to a very productive few days discussing issues of global stability and security, growth and shared challenges like climate change."

Starmer's first meeting of the day, with National People's Congress chairman, Zhao Leji, has begun.

It's being held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

With his visit to China underway in earnest, here's a brief run down of what the prime minister has set for the day: 

• Just after 2am in the UK, Starmer will meet with National People's Congress chairman, Zhao Leji;
• After that is the main event bilateral - a face-to-face with Xi Jinping around 3am;
• Over the next couple of hours, Starmer will then take part in a cultural reception at the Forbidden City;
• Then it's another meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at around 8.30am;
• Lastly, the prime minister is set for a signing ceremony at around 9.30am, followed by a business council with Li.

We're starting the Politics Hub early today, ahead of the prime minister's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

He landed in Beijing yesterday morning, getting his five-day visit to China and Japan underway.

On today's agenda, Starmer will attend a cultural reception in Beijing, and a signing ceremony is expected for around 9.30am UK time.

But before that, we're expecting to see him meeting Xi and other senior Chinese officials.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest.

A Tory MP who defected to Reform UK last week has blasted the Conservatives over the Chagos handover, accusing his former party of “betrayal”.

Andrew Rosindell, who was a shadow Foreign Office minister until he defected 10 days ago, said it was a “scandal” that the Conservative government began negotiations.

He said the Tories conducted 11 rounds of negotiations over handing over sovereignty to Mauritius until they were halted by Lord David Cameron when he was foreign secretary.

Mr Rosindell’s ferocious attack on his former party came during a Commons debate in which the Conservatives called on the government to scrap the legislation approving the handover.

Last Friday, the government dramatically postponed a Lords debate on the bill after the Conservatives tabled a wrecking amendment which the government feared would be carried.

Ministers are insisting the bill will come back to the Lords in the next few weeks and are pinning their hopes on a deal with Liberal Democrat peers to back the bill next time.

In the Commons, Mr Rosindell told MPs his former party were "implicated in this betrayal" of the Chagossian people and backed calls from opposition peers for a referendum.

The Chagossians were evicted from the Chagos archipelago in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for a UK-US military base on the largest island, Diego Garcia.

Sir Keir Starmer plans to hand over sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius, in exchange for leasing back the base for at least 99 years. Chagossians will be allowed to return to the outer islands.

The government pulled a Lords debate due to be held on Monday just days after President Trump denounced the handover as “an act of great stupidity”, despite previously supporting it.

Demanding a referendum, Mr Rosindell said: “Self-determination is fundamental to everything I believe in. So fundamental, in fact, that it rendered my position as shadow minister untenable.

“I could not, in good conscience, remain silent or complicit, disarmed of any meaningful say in the deliberations of my former party, and in fact, ashamed that the party of Margaret Thatcher, the party that took back the Falkland Islands in defence of the principle of self-determination, would be implicated in this betrayal.”

Mr Rosindell claimed he had raised the plight of the Chagossian people many times during his 25 years as an MP, but was never listened to, including during the 14 years the Conservatives were in government.

“All governments of all parties ignored the whole issue for decades, despite all the appeals of a small number of us that tried again and again and again, but were ignored.,” he said.

He said he had argued for Chagossians to be able to return to the islands, but the Conservative government “absolutely refused to even consider any option for settlement of those islands”.

“I've asked every minister, every government, over and over again,” he said. “I've been ignored. Over 14 years, sadly, the last government just dismissed it and refused to even consider it.

“Even from within the shadow foreign affairs team, I argued very strongly that the policy was fundamentally and morally wrong and that self-determination must be central to our response, but I was shut down.”

And he said he was “horrified and upset” when the legislation to ratify the deal was debated in the Commons and he was told by Conservative whips not to vote for a Liberal Democrat amendment calling for a referendum.

At the end of the opposition debate the Tory motion opposing the government handing over sovereignty of the Chagos territory was defeated 103 votes to 284 a government majority of 181.

Congratulations are in order for our political editor Beth Rigby and deputy political editor Sam Coates at this year's political podcast awards.

Beth's Electoral Dysfunction podcast - which she hosts with former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman and former Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson - picked up a trophy for presenter of the year.

Electoral Dysfunction also won the funniest comedy moment award - for the interview with Wes Streeting revealing his cunning plan to avoid being made home secretary in a reshuffle.

Sam's Politics at Sam and Anne's podcast, which he hosts with Politico’s Anne McElvoy, was named most original format.

The assisted dying bill may fail to become law if it progresses its current rate, the peer steering it through the Lords has admitted.

In a letter to his fellow peers on Wednesday evening, Lord Falconer said the upper house may fail to complete the scrutiny process in time.

If the bill is not passed by the Lords by the end of the parliamentary session, expected in May, then it will fall.  

Lord Falconer said: "We must be clear with ourselves. If we continue at the rate we are going, this house will fail to complete the process of scrutiny. 

"We will reach no conclusions on the bill as to how it should be amended or whether it should return to the Commons."

MPs voted to approve the bill - a private members bill put forward by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater - in June 2025.

It then moved to the Lords to be scrutinised by peers - where it has made slow progress.

Lord Falconer separately said this evening that if this bill fails, "the Parliament Act is an option".

Under the Parliament Act, legislation can be passed without the approval of the Lords if the Commons has backed it twice.

But it is a rarely used power - and it has never been used to force a private members bill through.

Supporters of the bill say they would attempt to reintroduce the bill after the Kings Speech, expected in May, if the first bid fails.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was approved by 314 votes to 291 at its third reading in the House of Commons - a majority of 23.

If passed, the bill would allow terminally ill adults with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist.

How do you deal with China?

Well, according to Professor Rana Mitter, co-author of the report "Conceptualising a UK-China Engagement Strategy", there's two key elements.

"I'd say engage with China where it's possible to do so because the second-biggest economy in the world is an entity that you can't simply ignore, not least because so many of the world's supply chains go to China," he says.

"But be aware that security risks are real. The Chinese are perfectly aware of that, and finding sensible ways to manage that is an important part of the process. 

"The United States, after all, has a very difficult political relationship with China, but the two are massive trading partners with each other. The UK can find ways to be in the same position."

You can watch the full interview here:

Former Tory minister Sir Ranil Jayawardena says those leaving the party for Reform UK "may regret" their decision in time.

It comes after Suella Braverman became the latest high-profile name to leave the Conservatives for Nigel Farage's party - following in the footsteps of Robert Jenrick.

Asked about those Tories that have defected, Sir Ranil, who served in the cabinet as environment secretary under Liz Truss, said: "I think the way I have approached this is actually as a matter of sadness - I don't want to see people leave the Conservative Party. 

"So I'm sorry that they've chosen to do so. And maybe in time they'll regret that decision. 

"But, you know, they have every right in a democracy to change their affiliation. They've chosen to do so.

"But I do think that Kemi is right to say that we are the Conservative Party is the party with solutions."

We've heard a lot so far about what the UK government hopes to obtain during Sir Keir Starmer's visit to China - namely investment and trade deals.

But Dr Zoe Liu, senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, has spoken to the Politics Hub tonight about what the Chinese government's hopes are from this trip.

Matt Barbet has also been asking whether the UK could look at imposing tariffs on the imports of Chinese electric vehicles.

You can watch the full interview here: