MPs will launch an inquiry into the collapse of a trial of two men accused of spying for China.
The prime minister, Keir Starmer, and his national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, have been under growing pressure over their role in the decision by the Crown Prosecution Service to drop charges against two British men accused of spying for China.
Speaking in an urgent question debate on the issue in the House of Commons this morning, Matt Western, the chair of the joint committee on national security strategy, announced that his committee has agreed to hold a formal inquiry into the case.
“Clearly there are a lot of questions yet to be asked in terms of how this came about, what evidence was there that may be not have been shared, but other evidence that perhaps wasn’t asked for,” Western said.
Western, who is a Labour MP, said the committee would be holding the inquiry “as soon as we possibly can” and asked Cabinet Office minister Chris Ward for his commitment that the committee “will have access to ministers and civil servants, or whoever we wish, to come before us”.
He also noted that JCNSS has the chairs of the Home Affairs Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee and Justice Committee among its members.
Responding, Ward said: “Parliamentary scrutiny and transparency is something that, despite the allegations, we are trying to do, with statements and publishing evidence. I am sure going forward that is something that will carry on as well. I will come back to him on this precise method of how we do that but I am sure that people will be made available to his committee.”
The Labour government has faced allegations by opposition parties of preventing the case against two men, one of whom was a parliamentary researcher, from progressing to protect economic ties with Beijing. The charges against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry – who deny the allegations – were dropped by the CPS in September, as the evidence “no longer met the test”.
On Monday, Downing Street said the claim that the government had collapsed the trial was “entirely false”. The government has said that one person, the deputy national security adviser, Matthew Collins, decided what evidence to give to the CPS, without political interference, and that the issue relates to "antiquated legislation" that the previous Tory government failed to update.
The government yesterday published witness statements that Collins provided to the CPS for the now-collapsed case after the prosecutions agency said it was up to the government to decide whether the statements should be published. The three witness statements were produced in December 2023, February 2025 and August 2025.
Asked by senior Tory MP Tom Tugendhat yesterday whether Collins was subjected to political interference before providing evidence to with the CPS, the PM said there was "absolutely none".
Security minister Dan Jarvis on Monday blamed the Official Secrets Act for the collapse of the trial, accusing the Conservatives of failing to modernise the legislation while in government.
This article includes reporting by Matilda Martin, a reporter at CSW's sister publication Politics Home, which first appeared here