The UK is "dangerously" dependent on China for minerals required for military hardware, renewable energy, and AI. Liam Byrne, the business select committee chair, said Britain remains dangerously exposed 16 years after China first weaponised its chokehold over rare earths. He stated that "critical minerals are the alpha of the new economy" and that Britain cannot rearm, build AI, or deliver net zero without securing these minerals. China dominates the refining of seven mineral categories, including lithium and rare earths. The committee heard that demand for lithium will increase 45-fold by 2030, while the demand for rare earths used in military jet magnets will increase 16-fold during that same period as Britain seeks to rebuild military capabilities. This dependency remains a strategic vulnerability because China turned off rare earth supplies in 2025. This risk follows an incident where a Dutch intervention in the China-owned Nexperia left the European car industry "days away" from stoppages last October. The committee called for an urgent centralised policy and a "critical minerals finance facility" to fund mines and deploy grants, equity, and debt.
Insufficient government action
The UK remains at the mercy of US-China relations after Donald Trump secured a reprieve on global export restrictions from Xi Jinping in October 2025. This reprieve extended to January 2027. The committee argued the UK is not putting enough effort into finding alternative supplies and must work with G7 partners and Indo-Pacific countries to aggregate demand. The committee drew up a 10-point plan to identify domestic mining and recycling opportunities. It plans to encourage businesses to reduce procurement from China and to unlock investment. It also wants to assess planning and permitting processes that may prove a barrier to mining and its associated costs. Parliament has no visibility regarding the capabilities the government seeks to protect or the projects it backs to reduce risk. The committee concluded it cannot be confident the government can satisfy any of its 10 tests and that the UK requires new institutional and financial muscle. A government spokesperson denied it lacks a critical minerals strategy, stating it is delivering £400m to ramp up domestic production and recycling and forge new international partnerships. The government aims to meet 10% of demand through domestic production and 20% through recycling by 2035, with no more than 60% of any critical minerals coming from any single country through these efforts.
