As MPs returned to Westminster from the conference recess, business secretary Kemi Badenoch wrote to the prime minister demanding “clarity and honesty”, urging him to make a statement in Parliament over why the prosecution failed.
The case against former parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash and teacher Christopher Berry was dropped last month after prosecutors said they could not obtain evidence that China had been officially designated a national security threat.
Former security minister Tom Tugendhat described the decision as “absolutely abhorrent”, accusing the government of shielding a “hostile state” rather than allowing justice to proceed. “The government appears willing to cover up for the actions of a hostile state seeking to interfere with the freedoms of the British people,” he told BBC Radio 4.
Critics, including former intelligence chiefs and senior civil servants, have questioned why the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was not provided with key documents before the case collapsed. Some allege that the government withheld information confirming China’s national security risk status.
Sir Keir has insisted his administration could not supply such evidence because the previous Conservative government had not formally labelled China a threat. Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said that classification was required to meet the legal threshold for prosecution.
In her letter, Mrs Badenoch accused the prime minister of avoiding accountability. “Your government’s account of what has happened has changed repeatedly,” she wrote. “If you will not make a statement yourself, will you instruct a senior minister to clear things up once and for all? The public and Parliament deserve transparency.”
Meanwhile, Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer told Times Radio that China “does pose national security threats” to the UK, including in areas of cybersecurity, transnational repression and links to Russia, though he stressed there were also areas of cooperation.
The government’s handling of the case has reignited debate about Britain’s stance on China, especially as ministers seek to deepen trade and diplomatic ties with Beijing.
