Matt O'Donoghue

Keir Starmer has just lied about the collapse of the China spying trial. Keir Starmer said that the last Government did not categorise China as a threat. That is a direct and easily disprovable lie [details below]. It is now clear from the DPP’s most recent letter that the Starmer government deliberately withheld co-operation and evidence from the CPS that caused an espionage trial to collapse. This has enabled those accused of spying for China to avoid prosecution. The Starmer government has prioritised appeasing China for economic reasons above national security. Keir Starmer must urgently answer if he authorised the refusal to fully co-operate with the CPS and provide to them the evidence they needed. Details: The key test set out in the DPP letter is whether China was categorised as a “threat” by the previous government. It clearly was, as set out below On 14th September 2023, responding to an ISC report into the China threat, the last government stated: “It is its [China’s] ambition at a global level to become a technological and economic superpower on which other countries are reliant that poses a national security threat to the UK.” It adds that Chinese interference (of the kind in this case) is a ”grave threat… to our national security.” On 15th April 2024 Security Minister Tom Tugenhadt said in Parliament: “The hostile activity we have seen from China … poses a serious threat to the security and wellbeing of the British people.” The Integrated Review on 2nd July 2021 states “China also presents the biggest state-based threat to the UK’s economic security.” The Integrated Review on 16th May 2023 states: “We will increase our national security protections in those areas where Chinese Communist party actions pose a threat to our people, prosperity and security.”