Downing Street is under growing pressure to publish its evidence in the collapsed China spy case after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) denied having blocked its release. The CPS stated that the decision to make the material public rests with the government, not with prosecutors.
The case involved Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry, a teacher, both of whom deny wrongdoing. They were accused of passing secrets to China, but charges were dropped last month. The row centres on a witness statement by Matthew Collins, the deputy national security adviser, which the CPS deemed insufficient to proceed with the trial.
According to senior sources, the CPS told the cabinet secretary, Chris Wormald, that publishing the evidence outside a courtroom would be “inappropriate”. However, a CPS spokesperson denied this, saying: “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.”
The Liberal Democrats have urged the government to publish Collins’s statement. Calum Miller, the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson, 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.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defended Collins, describing him as a “highly respected securocrat” who made every effort to support the case. Starmer blamed the previous Conservative government’s policy towards China for the collapse of the case, while the Tories accused Labour of initiating a blame game.
