The Speaker of the House of Commons has warned that Parliament could be exposed to foreign interference after charges against two men suspected of spying for China were dropped. Sir Lindsay Hoyle said the decision effectively gave Beijing a licence to operate inside Parliament, following allegations that the pair targeted MPs’ China Research Group. The defendants, Christopher Cash, 30, from Whitechapel in east London, and Christopher Berry, 33, from Witney in Oxfordshire, were charged under the Official Secrets Act with offences connected to espionage.

The director of public prosecutions, Stephen Parkinson, said there was disappointment that the prosecution had to stop and noted that the decision was not due to outside pressure. He added that the stop was because the evidence no longer met the evidential test. Cash and Berry had denied the allegations that they collected or shared information that could be useful to an enemy between December 2021 and February 2023.

Prosecutors stressed the stop reflected the evidence available at the time. They explained that proving China was an enemy would have been required under the Official Secrets Act 1911, a constraint superseded by the National Security Act 2023, which provides broader provisions to tackle espionage and those acting on behalf of foreign powers.