Members will soon vote on the final decision on whether to shut down the 31-year-old party, chairman Lo Kin-hei said.

The party has been struggling to survive following moves by China to crack down on dissent in the city in the wake of the 2019 protests.

Beijing and Hong Kong’s government have argued that such moves were necessary for national security.

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As part of the crackdown, Beijing overhauled the former British colony’s polling systems.

The so-called “patriots law” was passed in Hong Kong in 2021 that ensured only people regarded as loyal to the Communist regime in Beijing could serve as lawmakers or local councillors in the semi-autonomous territory.

This law effectively barred the Democratic Party from taking part in elections.

At a late-night press conference on Tuesday after a party meeting, Mr Lo said the party’s leaders had made the call to wind down based on the “current political situation”.

“Developing democracy in Hong Kong is always difficult, and it’s especially difficult in the past few years,” Mr Lo said to reporters.

He did not comment when asked if the party’s leaders’ decision had been made under political pressure.

The party has set up a work group for the shutdown process. At least 75% of its members attending an upcoming general meeting will have to approve the move before it is final. A date for that meeting is yet to be set.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong government adviser Regina Ip accused the Democratic Party of pursuing an agenda that opposed China and “constantly causing trouble inside and outside parliament”.

“Therefore I am not surprised at all that they have been losing supporters in recent years… the Democratic Party has already reached a dead end,” said Ms Ip, co-convener of Hong Kong’s cabinet-like Executive Council.

The Democratic Party was notable for having rare direct negotiations with the Liaison Office – the Chinese Communist government’s representation in Hong Kong – in 2010, to discuss plans for more liberal elections.

Its younger members, however, saw those negotiations as a betrayal. The move triggered a split while the party lost support.

It subsequently regained strength and became the most successful opposition political force in the city after acquiring the most seats in the 2019 local council elections, which took place during the violent anti-government protests.

A number of the Democratic Party’s members – including prominent pro-democracy figures Helena Wong, Lam Cheuk-ting, Wu Chi-wai and Albert Ho – are among the Hong Kong 47 group of campaigners jailed under the controversial national security law.

Another member, former legislator Ted Hui, is now living in Australia in exile and is wanted by the Hong Kong government for alleged national security offences. Earlier this week a court issued an order to confiscate his assets and money in Hong Kong, which are held by his family and a law firm.

In December, Hong Kong stripped the honorary Justice of the Peace title from Martin Lee KC, a key founder of the Democratic Party, after the veteran barrister lost his appeal against an unauthorised assembly conviction.

Among them is Tony Chung, the former leader of a pro-independence group who fled to the UK last year.

The group – which includes a former district councillor, an actor, and a YouTuber – have been lobbying for more democracy in the territory. All have been accused of violating the city’s national security law.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy criticised the move, calling on Hong Kong authorities to “end their targeting of individuals in the UK and elsewhere who stand up for freedom and democracy”.

“We will not tolerate any attempts by foreign governments to coerce, intimidate, harass or harm their critics overseas, especially in the UK,” he said, adding that the UK government was committed to supporting those from Hong Kong who have relocated to the UK.

Also on the wanted list is former district councillor Carmen Lau and activist Chloe Cheung. Both are based in the UK and lobby on behalf of two NGOs calling for more democracy in Hong Kong.

Arrest warrants were also issued for political commentator and pollster Chung Kim-wah, who left Hong Kong for the UK in 2022, as well as two people based in Canada: former actor Joseph Tay, who co-founded the NGO HongKonger Station, and Youtuber Victor Ho.

Mr Ho has been charged with subversion while the other six have been accused inciting secession and collusion with a foreign country or external forces.

According to Hong Kong’s public broadcaster RTHK, the arrest warrants were announced by the city’s top police chiefs on Tuesday, who accused some of the wanted activists of repeatedly requesting foreign countries to impose sanctions and other measures against China and Hong Kong.

Mr Chung was first convicted in 2021 for calling for Hong Kong’s secession and was released in June last year.

He posted on Instagram on Tuesday that it was “an honour to become the first Hongkonger to be charged twice under the National Security Law”.

Mr Chung said the news came as no surprise to him as he breached a supervision order after his release from prison by fleeing to the UK last year.”I knew this day would come. From the moment I decided to leave Hong Kong, I was fully aware that I would not be able to return for a long time,” he wrote.

Mr Chung confirmed to the BBC that he was still waiting for his asylum application to be approved by the UK government.

Ms Lau posted on X that the warrant would not stop her advocacy work. She called on the UK, US and EU governments to impose sanctions on “Hong Kong human rights perpetrators”.

She also asked the British Labour government to “seriously reconsider its strategies for tackling transnational repression targeting Hong Kongers” and to look at blocking plans for a new Chinese embassy in Tower Hill.

Earlier this month, Tower Hamlets councillors voted unanimously to reject the plans. However, the verdict is only advisory and not binding and it will be up to Deputy Prime Minister and Communities Secretary Angela Rayner to decide whether to grant permission or not.

This is the third round of arrest warrants and bounties issued since the Beijing-imposed National Security Law was imposed.

The first two rounds were issued in July and December last year, and targeted former lawmaker Nathan Law – who told the BBC last year that his life has become more dangerous since the bounty was announced – and Simon Cheng, a former UK consulate employee detained in 2019 in a high-profile case. Both men are now based in the UK.China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning backed the move on Tuesday, saying the Chinese government supported Hong Kong “performing its duties in accordance with the law”, She added that Hong Kong was “a society governed by the rule of law and no-one has extrajudicial privileges”.

Hong Kong’s controversial National Security Law was imposed in 2020 in response to the 2019 anti-government protests that rocked the city for months.

Beijing and Hong Kong authorities argue the law is necessary to maintain stability and deny it has weakened autonomy, but critics argue it has reduced the city’s autonomy and made a wider range of dissenting acts illegal.

But now one city has had enough. On Wednesday, Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog called for a review of regulations on claw machines after rising complaints.

One man had spent HK$500 ($64.4; £50.7) over 45 minutes to win a waffle maker but got “nothing more than a few trinkets”, the Consumer Council said.

It said these machines “capitalise on consumers’ enthusiasm for testing their luck” and warned people to “spend rationally and be mindful of addiction”. But it did not say how it would regulate them.

Forty-two complaints were filed in the first 11 months of this year, up from 16 in 2023 and seven in 2022, the Consumer Council said on Monday.

“The industry often modifies claw settings or introduces obstacles inside claw machines to make winning more challenging… Excessive difficulty or unfair settings could aggravate consumers,” the council said in a statement on Monday.

“We believe it’s about time to review whether we should regulate claw machine businesses,” said Gilly Wong Fung-han, the council’s chief executive, said reports.

But Jayden Chen, the founder of a claw machine rental company in Singapore, tells the BBC that programmed claw machines are “actually part of the fun”.

“The players then feel the excitement and adrenaline, and will keep going. If they are winning most of the time, who would try for a second or third time?

“Regulations will kill off the fun element,” Mr Chen said.

In Hong Kong, claw machine operators do not need a license to set up shop.

In the case of the man who bided for the waffle maker, he had used a claw machine that promised “instant prizes” – the waffle maker was among the array of prices displayed and he had believed that consumers should have the right to select their reward.

A woman, who played another claw machine, complained that each time she was about to move her desired toy towards the chute, the claw would slacken, letting go of the toy.

The machine featured a “guaranteed grab” mechanism for players who had spent at least HK$100 without winning – only in their next try would the claw maintain its grip until the toy is extracted. The woman lamented that this was a “dishonest trade practice”.

Reports have shown that claw machines can be programmed to have a strong grip for only part of the time, or for it to drop a prize only after a certain number of tries.

In yet another example given by the council, a third complainant had wanted to break his HK$100 bill into HK$5 coins inside a claw machine arcade. After inserting the bill, however, he received only one HK$5 coin. His request for a refund was denied, and he was instead “compensated” with an equivalent value in play rounds.

The man protested, calling this a case of “forced consumption”, but the operator upheld its decision not to issue a cash refund, saying the coin exchange “incurred operating costs such as bank fees”.

“Consumers should assess whether the total amount spent is worth the value of the desired prize,” it said.

It also advised consumers to video-record their gameplay so that they have some evidence on hand in case of any disputes.

It added that some claw machines are suspected to have been used for gambling activities and urged consumers to exercise caution.