Starmer praises official who submitted evidence in collapsed China spy case

Sir Keir Starmer has heaped praise on deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins, amid accusations he was being thrown under the bus for providing government evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service in the now-collapsed Chinese spying case.

The Prime Minister has not seen the “independent” witness statement submitted to the CPS by Mr Collins, Downing Street said.

It was that evidence the CPS deemed did not meet the threshold for proceeding with the trial of two alleged Chinese spies because it did not show China posed a threat to national security at the time the alleged offences occurred.

According to a readout, Sir Keir told his Cabinet on Tuesday “that anyone who had met the deputy national security adviser, Matthew Collins, will know he faithfully carries out his job”.

His spokesman also told reporters: “The deputy national security adviser is a highly respected securocrat. He’s got unparalleled experience in working across the national security community to keep the UK safe, secure and prosperous.

“He obviously provided evidence to help support the prosecution case.

“But of course, all of the evidence provided by him was based on the law at the time of the offence and the policy position of the government at the time of the offence.

“But every effort was clearly made to provide evidence to support this case within those constraints.”

Mr Collins would have provided “the most robust witness statement possible” within those limits, drawing on “the full range of evidence from across government”, the spokesman said.

He said ministers are not privy to that witness statement, which is “an independent record”.

“It’s critical that officials are able to give evidence to the CPS without fear or favour.

“It was drawn up obviously under the previous government.

“The Crown Prosecution Service asked the Government for evidence, which was provided.

“Under this Government, with no input from ministers, the CPS obviously took the decision that they did that the evidence did not meet the threshold for the prosecution to go ahead.”

The Government faces continued pressure over its handling of the collapsed trial of Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry, a teacher.

Both men, who deny wrongdoing, had been accused of passing secrets to China, but charges against them were dropped last month.

England’s chief prosecutor Stephen Parkinson blamed the Government for failing to provide evidence that would support the assertion that China represented a threat to national security.

Senior Conservatives have asked Mr Parkinson if the trial could be resumed if the Government declares Beijing is a threat to national security.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp and shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart wrote the letter asking Mr Parkinson to confirm “if the Government were to provide the evidence that the Crown Prosecution Service had requested, this would enable you to restart the prosecution”.

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’ reluctance to designate China a threat while in office.

No 10 said he told his Cabinet “the prosecution rested on the position of the previous government in relation to China and, specifically, whether the previous government deemed China an enemy of the United Kingdom or could be deemed, at the time, a current threat to national security sufficient for it to be deemed an enemy of the state”.

Sir Keir 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”.