No 10 puts out China spy witness statements

Downing Street last night published three witness statements from the UK’s deputy national security adviser in an effort to draw a line under the row over why spying charges against two Britons accused of spying for China were dropped last month.

- Dan Sabbagh Eleni Courea

Charges against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry fell away because prosecutors could not obtain evidence from Matthew Collins that Beijing represented a “threat to the national security of the UK” over “many months”.

The third and final statement supplied by Collins in August describes China’s intelligence services as “highly capable” and that they “conduct large scale espionage operations agains the UK to advance the Chinese state’s interests and harm the interests and security of the UK”.

It was his final effort at ending a standoff with Stephen Parkinson, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service, but though similar to the language sought by prosecutors, it was nevertheless not thought sufficient by them to allow the case to proceed.

The decision to release the statements was made by Keir Starmer at the start of prime minister's questions yesterday, which were at the heart of the decision as to why the Crown Prosecution Service had dropped the case.

Earlier, the chairs of five parliamentary committees met Stephen Parkinson, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service, to discuss how they will scrutinise the affair in the afternoon. According to one report the director of prosecutions told them the statements were "5% less than the evidence threshold that was needed" - while the CPS declined to comment.