Starmer announces China spy documents will be published as pressure mounts following trial collapse
Sir Keir is beset with mounting pressure over his administration’s handling of the collapsed case
Sir Keir Starmer has announced that he will publish evidence the Government submitted in the China spying case after accusations of a cover-up.
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The Prime Minister confirmed that the witness statement given by Matthew Collins, the deputy national security adviser, will be published following a clash between the Cabinet and the CPS.
The PM had come under growing pressure to publish the documents after it was revealed the trial of Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry collapsed because the Government refused to refer to China as a national security threat.
Sir Keir was repeatedly pressed by Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative Party over the government's handling of the case during a heated PMQs.
In a short statement at the top of PMQs, Sir Keir said: "Last night, the Crown Prosecution Service clarified that, in their view, the decision whether to publish the witness statements of the DNSA [deputy national security advisor] is for the government.
"I have therefore carefully considered this question this morning, and after legal advice, I have decided to publish the witness statement.
"Given the input, given the information contained, we will conduct a short process. But I want to make clear, I intend to publish the witness statements in full."
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It comes after No 10 accused the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) of having blocked the publication of a crucial witness statement.
The CPS hit back, and insisted it was entirely up to the Government to release the evidence if it wanted to.
This has now forced Sir Keir, who today insisted that "no minister or special adviser played any role in the provision of evidence", to publish the document.
Mr Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Mr Berry, a teacher, had been accused of passing secrets to China. Charges against the men, who both deny wrongdoing, were dropped last month.
The collapse has sparked a row and left the Government with questions to answer.
Tory leader Ms Badenoch slammed Sir Keir in the Commons today, arguing it is "simply unbelievable that he is trying to say the last government did not classify China as a threat".
She referred to several comments made in 2021 and 2024, attributed to the previous Conservative government, and added: “In 2022, the director general of MI5 in November classified China as a threat in his remarks.
"How is it possible that the Government failed to provide the evidence that the CPS needed to prosecute?”
Sir Keir replied: “The substantive evidence was provided in 2023 by the previous government. That is when the witness statement was submitted.“
I am going to disclose it, they will all be able to read it.”
Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald is understood to have been prepared to publish a Government witness statement central to the withdrawal of espionage charges against the men.
Sources within the Government had claimed the Cabinet Secretary – the country’s most senior civil servant – had gone to the CPS to discuss the publication of the witness statement by Matthew Collins, the deputy national security adviser.
It was that statement the CPS deemed did not meet the threshold for proceeding with the trial of the two alleged spies because it did not show China posed a threat to national security at the time the alleged offences occurred.
Prosecutors concluded during their meeting with Civil Service chief Mr Wormald that publishing the evidence outside of a courtroom would be “inappropriate”, senior sources said.
But a CPS spokesperson denied the Government’s claims.“
The statements were provided to us for the purpose of criminal proceedings which are now over,” they said.The spokesperson added: “The material contained in them is not ours, and it is a matter for the Government, independently of the CPS, to consider whether or not to make that material public.”
Sir Keir has heaped praise on deputy national security adviser Mr Collins, amid accusations he was being thrown under the bus for providing the Government’s evidence in the case.
According to a readout, Sir Keir told his Cabinet on Tuesday Mr Collins is a “highly respected securocrat” who made “every effort” to support the case in court.
However, Mr Collins was constrained by the “policy position of the government at the time of the offence”, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman added.
Sir Keir has denied that the Labour Government was responsible for the decision to drop the charges against Mr Cash and Mr Berry, and blamed the Conservatives’ approach to China in power.
The Prime Minister said the last Tory government “declined to describe China either as an enemy or infer that by describing it as a current threat to national security”.
The Liberal Democrats urged the Government to now publish Mr Collins’ witness statement.
The party’s foreign affairs spokesperson Calum Miller said: “If ministers have nothing to hide they have nothing to fear.
“Failure to come clean will just confirm people’s suspicions of a cover-up and that ministers are more worried about cosying up to China than protecting our national security.”