Starmer denies ministers involved in China spy trial collapse

Sir Keir Starmer has denied any ministers were involved in the collapse of the trial of alleged Chinese spies.

Christopher Cash, 30, a former parliamentary researcher, and teacher Christopher Berry, 33, were accused of spying for China, but weeks before their trial was due to begin, it was dropped.

Berry, of Witney, Oxfordshire, and Cash, of Whitechapel, east London denied the allegations.

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Sir Keir, his ministers and national security adviser Jonathan Powell have faced accusations they were involved in the trial being dropped.

The prime minister has maintained that because the last Conservative government had not designated China as a threat to national security, his government could not provide evidence to that effect, which the director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said was required to meet the threshold for prosecution.

Mr Parkinson had blamed ministers for failing to provide the crucial evidence needed to proceed.

During a trade visit to India, the prime minister was asked whether any minister, or Mr Powell, were involved in the decision not to provide the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) with evidence that, at the time of the alleged offences, China represented a threat to national security.

He replied: "I can be absolutely clear no ministers were involved in any of the decisions since this government's been in in relation to the evidence that's put before the court on this issue."

He did not mention Mr Powell specifically.

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Earlier this week, Mr Parkinson took the unusual step of sending MPs a letter to say the government had refused to label Beijing an enemy, which led to the case being dropped.

Sir Keir reiterated his line that the case could only rely on evidence from the period the pair were accused of spying, from 2021 to 2023, when the Conservatives were in government.

He said: "The evidence in this case was drawn up at the time and reflected the position as it was at the time," the PM said in India.

"And that has remained the situation from start to finish.

"That is inevitably the case because in the United Kingdom, you can only try people on the basis of the situation as it was at the time.

"You can't try people on the basis of the situation, as it now is or might be in the future, and therefore, the only evidence that a court would ever admit on this would be evidence of what the situation was at the time.

"It's not a party political point. It's a matter of law."

Sir Keir's assertion has been called into question by former top civil servants and legal experts.

Mark Elliott, professor of public law at the University of Cambridge, told Sky News there is no legal requirement for a country to be declared an enemy for someone to be tried for breaching the Official Secrets Act.

He said the current government was "cherry picking" what the previous government had said about China to claim they did not regard them as a threat to national security.

However, there are several examples of the Tory government saying China was a national security threat during the time Berry and Cash were accused of spying.