The speech that Andy Burnham gave yesterday at the Labour Party Conference was a good speech. Some have even said it was a great speech. His acknowledgement that the political classes have let down care workers and nurses was – in an age when ministers routinely push their civil servants under the bus rather than accept responsibility – genuinely extraordinary.

His criticism of Westminster was refreshing. Credit where it is due.

But what a politician does not say is often as important as what he does say. And it’s is also an indicator of a deeper problem in the Party’s approach. The thing he didn’t say was China.

This matters because we have just completed a three-month study on UK-China trade dependency between 2015 and 2025. Looking at UN Comtrade data, we found trade figures where China supplies more than half of our imports and controls more than 30% of the global market on a particular good. What we found was – at times – unimportant. Do we have a strategic dependence on China for bicycle horns or Christmas lights? Apparently so. Is it an issue? Probably not.

However, what we did find directly ties to the PM’s desire re-industrialize our regions and “lead the next industrial revolution” and should keep ministers awake at night. Take processed critical minerals. They’re a meta dependence because we use them in our high tech and defence manufacturing. Our dependence on China grew 1000% in just ten years. Not 1% or 10%. 1000%. It’s an astounding figure and gives China the power to cut off our supply and halt our efforts overnight.

You want to reindustrialize? Well, our critical manufacturing (machine tools and industrial robots) dependence on China grew by 122% between 2015 and 2025. In fact, of the countries that we studied, the UK’s dependence on China for manufacturing technologies grew the most (from 18 codes to 40 codes in that 10 years). There are still plenty of German, Swiss, Japanese, and US companies that produce industrial robots, but they’re not as cheap as China’s and that’s the problem. We’re still fixated on price.

Our dependence on China for information communications technology – those consumer tech goods and network enablers like cellular modules – grew by 360%. In an age where data is treated like a national strategic asset, this presents two separate sets of supply chains issues: one of intrusion and one of cutting off supply.

Andy Burnham mentioned NATO, he mentioned Ukraine. He mentioned Israel and Palestine. He even mentioned Russia and Iran. But he didn’t mention China.

Why is that important? Because China has a “no-limits” partnership with Russia, a country with which the UK is daily attacked in the cyber realm, a country which presents itself as a major threat to European security. And China isn’t a passive supporter. Beijing provides equipment, supplies, microcomputers, and now – military training – to Russian troops actively invading a British ally.

As if to emphasize the point, MI5 warned us today that China’s spy agencies have been funnelling money through a proxy to British universities to get access to British research. No doubt, they’ll use that research – paid for by British taxpayers – to build products they’ll then turn around and sell us.

Labour – and previously some Conservative leaders – have a knack of wanting to have their cake and eat it. China is a great source of foreign direct investment, a great source of cheap manufactured goods. But there is such a thing is being too good to be true. Cheap Chinese goods are not risk-free as Beijing could pull the plug any time if wanted and bring our ability to produce Rolls Royce engines to a halt.

Last year, China slapped export controls on a range of strategic critical goods, goods upon which British manufacturers are now dependent. Prices went up for us. Andy didn’t mention that. He also didn’t mention the fact that China could cut off any number of areas and UK reindustrialization would grind to a halt. And guess what, China is not that dependent on the UK. It could take the pain with its wide trade base in the global south.

Andy Burnham wants to build the north. He wants the UK to lead the next industrial revolution and reindustrialize those regions that have been hollowed out. These are wonderful goals and I fully back them. But you cannot reindustrialize a country when your supply chain is in the hands of a Russian ally. It is a geopolitical gun, waiting to be fired when the UK goes against Chinese preferences.

Andy Burnham’s speech was good. His silence on China was a problem.

In this case, it’s our cake.