PM faces 'more unanswered questions' after evidence in China spying case released

Sir Keir Starmer remains under pressure over the collapse of a trial into alleged Chinese spies after witness statements revealed the government's deputy national security adviser had warned of significant espionage in the UK.

Three witness statements from the government were released late on Wednesday amid confusion about why the prosecutions of two men accused of spying for Beijing fell apart. Politics Hub: Follow latest updates Ex-parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash, 30, and teacher Christopher Berry, 33, were charged last year with passing politically sensitive information to a Chinese agent between December 2021 and February 2023.

They have both denied the allegations, and the case collapsed last month. The director of public prosecutions blamed the government's refusal to brand China a threat, sparking accusations of a "cover-up".

Sir Keir, who wants a "strategic and long-term" relationship with Beijing, used PMQs to announce witness statements from the case, made by deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins, would be published. The PM has sought to blame the previous Tory government's stance on China for the spying trial collapsing.

Sky News chief political correspondent Jon Craig said Sir Keir "will hope he's got off the hook" by publishing the statements, but the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats say "they beg more questions than they answer". So what do the witness statements say? In the first, from December 2023, Mr Collins said "large scale espionage" was being carried out against Britain.

A second, from February 2025, said Chinese spying threatened the economy. In the documents, it was also revealed information about internal Tory politics - when the party was in government - was being fed to a Chinese intelligence handler known as "Alex.