Security minister Dan Jarvis has defended the government's handling of a collapsed spying trial, accusing the Conservatives of suggesting without evidence that the case was deliberately abandoned. Two men, Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, had charges dropped last month after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it could no longer meet the evidential threshold. Both had maintained their innocence.
Jarvis told MPs that the deputy national security adviser, Matthew Collins, provided three witness statements to support the trial between December 2023 and July 2025. He said every effort was made to provide evidence within the constraints of legislation that had not been updated by the previous Conservative government. He denied suggestions that the government concealed evidence or withdrew witnesses.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch argued that the government's explanation 'will not wash' and that it 'looks like a deliberate decision to collapse the case and curry favour with the regime in China'. She suggested national security adviser Jonathan Powell played a role due to his close relationship with China. Jarvis insisted Powell was not involved in decisions about the substance of the evidence.
The CPS director, Stephen Parkinson, wrote to MPs saying efforts were made over many months to obtain a witness statement from the government stating that China posed a threat to UK national security, without which the case could not succeed. Downing Street said it was 'entirely false' to suggest the government was responsible for the trial's collapse, stressing the decision was entirely for the CPS.
On Monday, ministers including Jarvis and Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer hardened their line towards China, stating it posed national security threats through cyber-attacks and transnational repression. The Conservatives have asked Parkinson whether the prosecution could be restarted if new evidence emerges.
