• Politics
• Visit Article Link

• BBC Politics
• Fri Oct 17 2025

MPs demand chief prosecutor explain China spy case collapse

13 hours ago Share Save Paul Seddon Political reporter Share Save

PA Media Stephen Parkinson has been criticial of Sir Keir Starmer's time as head of the CPS

The director of public prosecutions is facing mounting pressure to further explain the collapse of a case against two men accused of spying for China. MPs are demanding Stephen Parkinson give a "fuller explanation" of why charges against parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash, 30, and academic Christopher Berry, 33, were dropped last month. Both men deny the allegations. Parkinson has blamed the collapse of the case on a failure by the government to provide enough evidence showing China was a threat to the UK's national security. But calls for clarification have grown after the government published witness statements on Wednesday outlining the threat posed by Beijing.

The chairs of four parliamentary committees have given Mr Parkinson, the boss of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), until Friday next week to answer a series of questions about why the case collapsed. He is also likely to be hauled before MPs to give evidence, with a joint national security committee of MPs and peers also launching a formal inquiry. Labour MP Matt Western, who chairs the committee, said there were "many questions yet to be answered" by both Mr Parkinson and the government. Western added that the committee would hope to hear from "the government and officials" as soon as possible. Another parliamentary group, the intelligence and security committee, has launched a separate probe into how classified material was used during the case.

Witness statements

Mr Cash and Mr Berry were charged last year under the 1911 Official Secrets Act, accused of gathering and providing information prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state between December 2021 and February 2023. This legislation requires prosecutors to prove that suspects have passed on material that could be "directly or indirectly useful to an enemy". In a letter to MPs last week, Mr Parkinson said a court ruling in a separate case following the charges meant this included countries deemed to pose a "threat to the national security of the UK" at the time of the alleged offences. He added that CPS lawyers had dropped the case after failing to obtain sufficient evidence from the government describing China to this effect. It prompted a row with ministers, with Sir Keir Starmer saying he was "deeply disappointed" the prosecutions did not go ahead and taking the unusual step of publishing government witness statements given to the CPS. The three statements, written by deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins, are clear that the Chinese are carrying out spying operations against the UK. In the documents, he said China was carrying out "large scale espionage" against the UK and was "the biggest state-based threat to the country's economic security".

Criticism of Starmer