London, 16 October (H.S.): United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government on Wednesday published evidence from the collapsed espionage case against two men accused of spying for China, as it seeks to quell a growing political controversy. The Labour administration has been forced to defend itself against accusations that it interfered to protect relations with Beijing.

The case against Christopher Cash, 30, and Christopher Berry, 33, was dropped last month, sparking a public dispute between the government and the independent Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over the reason for its failure. The CPS stated the case collapsed because the evidence submitted by the government failed to demonstrate that China posed a threat to UK national security during the period of the alleged offenses, from 2021 to 2023.

In response, Prime Minister Starmer, himself a former chief state prosecutor, argued that the government was restricted to submitting evidence from that specific timeframe, which was under the previous Conservative government. He vehemently denied claims from the Conservative opposition that his officials had lobbied to drop the charges over fears of jeopardizing Chinese investment in the UK.

To counter these accusations, Starmer released three witness statements prepared by deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins. In the most recent statement from August 2025, Collins asserted that Chinese intelligence services are highly capable and conduct large scale espionage operations against the UK to advance the Chinese state's interests and harm the interests and security of the UK.

The Conservative opposition dismissed the release as insufficient, demanding that the China files be published in full and claiming a stench of scandal now hangs over the government.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar