Government publishes evidence in collapsed China spy case
The government has released witness statements presented in the collapsed case against two men accused of spying for China.
Deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins gave three witness statements to prosecutors — one in 2023 and two earlier this year — about whether China was considered a threat to national security at the time of the alleged crimes.
Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) unexpectedly dropped charges against two men, Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, who both denied the allegations.
Mr Cash and Mr Berry, a former parliamentary investigator, were charged under the Official Secrets Act in April 2024, when the Conservatives were in power.
They were accused of collecting and providing information harmful to the security and interests of the state between December 2021 and February 2023.
The director of public prosecutions said the case collapsed because the government could not obtain evidence characterizing China as a national security threat.
He said that although there was sufficient evidence when charges were first laid against the two men, the precedent set by another espionage case earlier this year meant China should have been labeled a “threat to national security” at the time of the alleged crimes.
Conservatives claimed the government did not provide sufficient evidence because it did not want to damage relations with Beijing.
However, the Labor government argued that because the alleged crimes took place under the Conservatives, the investigation could be based solely on their attitude towards China at the time.
Speaking earlier at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir Starmer said: “No minister or special adviser during this government has played any role in providing the evidence.”
The release of the documents comes after the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats called for their release.
On Tuesday, senior government officials claimed the CPS had told them it would be “inappropriate” to publish witness statements.
But the CPS later made clear that it would not stop ministers if they chose to make the government’s evidence public.
