Labour accused of making deputy national security adviser ‘scapegoat’ over collapse of China spying trial

Labor has blamed Jonathan Powell’s aide for the controversial collapse of the Chinese spying case.

Dan Jarvis claimed that deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins was responsible for providing evidence against two alleged spies accused of passing information to Beijing.

But the case against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry collapsed last month after the CPS claimed the Government had failed to provide evidence that China was a threat to the UK.

Jarvis told the House of Commons on Monday that Collins had not handed over the statements and Jonathan Powell had not seen them.

The decision to charge Mr Collins led to claims Labor had made him a ‘scapegoat’ for the scandal.