Ed Miliband dodged a question about a “secret China deal” 17 times in an “astonishing exchange”.

The Energy Secretary faced a grolling at the hands of Tory MP Bradley Thomas in the Commons Energy Security and Net Zero Committee on Wednesday.

In it, Mr Miliband was forced to admit that China poses security risks to Britain’s energy system,

Mr Thomas said: “Given that acknowledged caution, the sort of topics that Parliament deserves to see the detail on include whether this deal involve commitments not to complain to China about slave labuor being used in solar production and supply chains, commitments to maintain resilience on and maintain reliance on Chinese supply chains.”

Deflecting, the ex-Labour leader said: “Do ask me, Mr Thomas, any questions you like about our relationship to China.”

China and the UK agreed in March last year to co-operate in areas such as “power grids, battery storage, offshore wind power, and green hydrogen,” according to Chinese media.

Nearly a year later, no more details of the deal have been published.

Mr Miliband said the Government was following the practice of its predecessors, despite the fact that energy deals with other countries had indeed been published.

The Doncaster North MP repeatedly told Mr Thomas he was free to “ask any questions” about the deal as he was pushed further.

In total, he managed to avoid the line of questioning 17 times.

Mr Miliband did eventually relent, and said: “With certain countries, we have certain approaches and with others we have other approaches. So have previous Governments.”

But this was blasted as a “two-tier approach” by the Conservative MP, who concluded by calling it “a serious issue”.

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Mr Miliband’s shadow counterpart Claire Coutinho later said: “This is an astonishing exchange.

“Ed Miliband dodges the question SEVENTEEN TIMES on why he won’t publish his secret China deal.

“What is he trying to hide?”

“Unlike the deals I signed with Korea, Germany, or Ireland, or the other deals Ed’s ministers have signed in office, the full text remains a secret.”

Mr Miliband accused her of believing conspiracy theories when she raised the issue in the Commons yesterday.

When asked if he would commit to publishing the full text of the so-called “secret energy deal” he said: “May I give the Lady a piece of advice? Wacky conspiracy theories that she gets on the internet are no substitute for a proper policy.”

The Department for Energy and Net Zero (DESNZ) responded to Mrs Coutinho that releasing information within the deal “would increase public knowledge about our relations with the Chinese government”, adding that the Clean Energy Partnership was an agreement made in confidence.

A DESNZ spokesman said: “The previous Government did not publish its last agreement with China, and it is not routine that agreements of this kind are made publicly available.

“Our Memorandum of Understanding with China renewed a partnership that has been in place for over ten years, and facilitates the sharing of research and ideas to support the global clean energy transition.”