Communist-run China has posed a systematic threat to the UK’s national security for some time. As the head of MI5, Ken McCallum, warned in 2023, China has been conducting espionage on what he called an “epic” scale against the UK. The heads of MI5 and the FBI also gave a joint speech in 2022 warning about it.
Into this context come allegations that two British nationals spied on behalf of China to acquire information described as damaging to the British national interest.
In April 2024 the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that it had the evidence to proceed with the prosecution. This included the need to demonstrate that China posed a threat to national security at the time the offences occurred, between 2021 and 2023. That isn’t simply a question of the government’s public statements at the time, it’s a question of fact determined by a jury. The men deny the claim.
Last month the CPS suddenly dropped the case. The Labour government has claimed this was nothing to do with it.
In an unprecedented move, the director of public prosecutions (DPP) has written three public letters making clear the truth. The prosecutions were dropped because the Labour government decided not to provide the evidence needed to demonstrate China posed a threat to national security. The DPP is calling out the government.
Keir Starmer’s excuse is that the previous government did not publicly categorise China as a threat to national security.
There is no delicate way to say this: what the prime minister said is totally untrue — and anyway it is not the legal test.
There are multiple statements from the previous government on this topic.
In April 2024 Tom Tugendhat, then security minister, said: “The hostile activity we have seen from China … poses a serious threat to the security and wellbeing of the British people.”
The integrated review in 2021 stated: “China also presents the biggest state-based threat to the UK’s economic security.” The 2023 update said: “We will increase our national security protections in those areas where Chinese Communist Party actions pose a threat to our people, prosperity and security.”
In September 2023, responding to a parliamentary intelligence committee report on China, the last government “recognised” the report’s conclusion that “it is its [China’s] ambition at a global level to become a technological and economic superpower on which other countries are reliant that poses a national security threat to the UK”.
This all comes on top of the MI5 director-general’s comments.
Moreover, the government has multiple internal documents and reports on the threat China posed to national security in the 2021-23 period. I have spoken to colleagues who served as relevant ministers then and they have told me these documents exist.
As a former minister, I know it myself from my time in government. The government has plenty of information on the threat to national security from China seeking to acquire sensitive technologies through nefarious means, including during the relevant time.
Starmer’s government could have disclosed these documents to the CPS, in private if needed. It chose not to. It instead destroyed the prosecution by refusing to disclose the evidence the CPS needed — evidence the government has in its possession — and instead provided unhelpful witness statements.
The government’s decision has enabled those accused of spying for China to avoid justice. I believe it has done this to appease China for economic reasons, hoping for an investment or trade deal.
China now knows it can conduct espionage against the UK at will.
Reports suggest that one of Starmer’s top advisers, Jonathan Powell, was at the heart of this decision. The prime minister needs to urgently confirm if this is true — and, if so, Powell should be sacked.
Chris Philp is the shadow home secretary
Originally published on 9th October 2025 in The Times. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/keir-starmer-ample-proof-china-threat-fkdpppsrg
