James Wild MP has demanded answers from the government following the collapse of a major espionage prosecution, questioning why the Prime Minister took no action when informed the trial was at serious risk of failing.
Speaking in the House of Commons, James pressed the Cabinet Office Minister on the case of two men charged under the Official Secrets Act with spying for China. The Crown Prosecution Service dropped the charges on 15 September 2025, just weeks before the scheduled trial.
The case collapsed after the government failed to provide evidence necessary to support the prosecution. The Director of Public Prosecutions revealed that the CPS spent many months attempting to obtain material from the government showing China posed a national security threat between 2021 and 2023, but this evidence was not forthcoming.
James's question comes amid concerns about the government's approach to China. Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and National Security Adviser, Jonathan Powell, have all recently visited China. Meanwhile, witness statements describe "large-scale espionage" operations targeting Britain.
Downing Street confirmed that Sir Keir Starmer was informed two days before the case collapsed that the prosecution was at serious risk, yet no action was taken to prevent it.
Speaking in the House of Commons, James Wild MP said:
"The Minister knows the Prime Minister well, having been one of his close advisors as well as his Parliamentary Private Secretary. So why did the Prime Minister, when he learned a major trial concerning spying on members of this place was going to collapse, do nothing? Why didn't he ask if anything could be done to stop the trial collapsing? Is that what he actually wanted to happen? And if not, why didn't he act?"
In response, the Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office), Chris Ward MP, said:
"The Prime Minister has already stated when he was informed that the trial was at that process. But the Prime Minister, as he said yesterday in response to my honourable friend, it is not the Prime Minister's position to interfere or to interfere in that place of it. And the case was then dropped by the CPS independently. The government wanted the trial to proceed and allowed every opportunity for the prosecution to proceed and allowed every opportunity for evidence to be provided for it and for the CPS to gather."
The government has attempted to shift responsibility to the previous Conservative administration, claiming prosecutors could only rely on policy at the time of the alleged offences. However, the Conservative government's 2021 Integrated Review described China as "the biggest state-based threat to the UK's economic security"
