Priscilla Leung

On 21 January 2010, in a response to the quasi-referendum on universal suffrage, triggered by the resignation of five pan-democrat members of LegCo, Leung announced she would introduce a private member's bill to forbid legislators who resign from running in elections in the same four-year term.[7] Ronny Tong criticised her move as a contravention of the Basic Law: he said such a bill would infringe the right to stand for elections protected under Article 26 and would be inconsistent with Article 74 which prohibits individual legislators from tabling bills that relate to the political structure.[8]

A less-extreme government bill, imposing a six-month prohibition on running for election after resignation, was passed in May 2012, in the face of filibustering efforts from legislators Leung Kwok-hung and Albert Chan.

In July 2014, she championed the Hong Kong Government's establishment of the "Voluntary Scouts".[9]

On 24 December 2020, Leung criticized the Hong Kong government's response to coronavirus disease 2019, stating that it was "worse than that of the United Kingdom."[10] On that day, the United Kingdom reported a cumulative total of 2,149,551 cases (3.233% of its total population),[11] whereas Hong Kong reported a cumulative total of 8,353 cases (0.112% of its total population),[12] a rate per capita of about 29 times less than that of the United Kingdom.

In January 2021, following the arrest of 53 pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong for organizing primaries for the 2020 Legislative Council, Leung stated that the government should investigate whether the primaries were a violation of the National Security Law.[13]

Leung has claimed that dual nationality is not allowed in Hong Kong,[14] even though high-level government officials, including Carrie Lam, Tam Yiu-chung, and Tung Chee-hwa have children with foreign citizenship.[15]

In February 2021, Leung said that a special committee should be created to vet people who run for elections, claiming that some had been voted into office and then called for Hong Kong independence or self-determination.[16] Leung said that creating a "eligibility vetting committee" to filter out certain candidates would close the loophole.[16] Leung also called for the education system to be run by "patriots," stating that "We need to demonstrate 'patriots governing Hong Kong' in the city's education, politics and law."[17]

Leung is a social conservative, opposed to same-sex marriage and equal rights for same-sex couples.[18] In 2019, she criticised the Airport Authority and the MTR Corporation for reversing their decision to ban a Cathay Pacific ad featuring a same-sex couple holding hands. Former lawmaker Cyd Ho remarked, "People like Priscilla Leung, who dare to teach law at university and get enough votes to sit in Legco, have no idea about human rights or equality."[19]

Leung said the government should not help secure venues for the 2022 Gay Games in Hong Kong, and claimed that most people in Hong Kong would want to "protect the heterosexual marriage system".[20] In June 2023, Leung said that Western children were being taught things that challenged "traditional values," and that Hong Kong "must not go down this bad path."[21]

Though Hong Kong medical schools teach in English, Leung in July 2022 criticized the requirement that English be the language of instruction for a program that recruits doctors from medical schools outside of Hong Kong.[22]

In July 2022, Leung claimed that "Hong Kong was never a colony" was nothing new.[23]

In October 2022, during a Legislative Council Panel on Health Services, Leung was warned 4 times not to keep switching between English and Cantonese; Leung then flung the document from her hands and left the meeting.[24]

In November 2022, Leung said that if Hong Kong courts allow Jimmy Lai to hire Tim Owen, then Beijing may get involved to block the hiring of Owen.[25] In contrast, Ronny Tong said that it was inappropriate to comment on cases before rulings were issued.[26] Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun, former law dean of HKU, said that the NPCSC interpretation "may severely compromise Hong Kong as an international city," and that calls to have the NPCSC intervene before the court had issued its decision were "disturbing" and could undermine the rule of law and judicial independence in the city.[27]

Leung was earlier one of the most vocal supporters of having the NPCSC intervene in the matter, but in December 2022, backtracked and said that there was a "strong chance" the NPCSC would not step in, and said "Apart from interpreting the law, the issue can also be resolved by looking at other articles in the legislation and considering other solutions."[28]

In January 2023, after the NPCSC interpreted the law and gave the Chief Executive power to ban foreign lawyers, Leung echoed Tam Yiu-chung's opinion that it would only benefit the city.[29]

In May 2023, the Legislative Council voted with 100% approval to let the chief executive restrict overseas lawyers from national security cases, following attempts by the government to block Jimmy Lai from hiring Tim Owen as his defense lawyer; Leung said that the new law showed that Hong Kong was "very tolerant."[30]

In March 2023, Leung said of the government's proposal to potentially ban already-admitted foreign lawyers that "My understanding is that [the amendment] will not rule out the use of other measures... such as if we do not grant visas to those deemed unsuitable to enter [the city]."[31]