Beijing on Wednesday threatened the British government with retaliation for the decision by the speakers of both houses to ban the Chinese ambassador from entering the British Parliament.

Beijing Foreign Ministry spokesperson said “we strongly condemn this step and will have to react to it and take appropriate measures’’, leaving the nature of the measures unspecified.

The spokesperson accused Parliament of allowing “anti-China MPs” to damage bilateral relations and called on it to reverse its decision, “put MPs in their place” and work to consolidate bilateral relations.

On Tuesday, British media reported that the speakers of the House of Commons and the House of Lords had jointly agreed to ban Chinese ambassador Zheng Zeguang from entering amid diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

The move followed Chinese sanctions against several British MPs after Britain, along with the EU, U.S. and Canada, imposed punitive measures on those responsible for the repression of the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.

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The leader of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, stressed that it was not appropriate to receive the Chinese ambassador in Parliament “when his country is imposing sanctions on some of our members.’’

The British Foreign Office also pointed out that the British Parliament is independent of the British government in its decisions.