Security minister Dan Jarvis blamed the previous Conservative administration and archaic legislation for the Crown Prosecution Service’s decision to drop the case. The director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson has said the case was dropped after the Government failed to provide evidence that would support the assertion that China represented a threat to national security. Mr Jarvis told MPs “every effort was made to provide evidence to support this case” within the constraints of the previous government’s reluctance to classify China as a national security threat. Setting out the current Government’s position, Mr Jarvis said: “We fully recognise that China poses a series of threats to UK national security, yet we must also be alive to the fact that China does present us with opportunities. “The 2023 Integrated Review Refresh said China posed – let’s listen carefully – a ‘threat’ several times.”Mrs Badenoch also said former security minister Tom Tugendhat had warned China “poses a serious threat” from the despatch box.

Source: The Times October 14, 2025 05:31 UTC