London, Ioannis Haniotakis

British Prime Minister, Kir Starmer, and his government are at the heart of intense political pressure after the collapse of a long -running espionage case.

Specifically, the prosecution against two men accused of spying on behalf of China, stopped abruptly, with the country’s Attorney General, Steven Parkinson’s himself, directly blaming the government of failing to fail. As he revealed, his service was looking for evidence “for many months”, but they were never provided.

To make the court to move on, prosecutors needed an official government confirmation that China was a threat to national security at the time allegedly committed. The prime minister defended his government, turning the arrows to approach the previous Conservative government against China. He argued that, since the alleged offenses took place between December 2021 and February 2023, the Toris attitude at that time was legally critical, as they had not even described China as a threat to national security.

The prosecution against Christopher Kas, a former parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Barry, Daskalou, was abandoned on September 15, after both men denied the charges under the law on state privacy. The collapse of the case followed a ruling by the Supreme Court in a separate case, which required prosecutors to prove that China was a threat to the national security of the United Kingdom at the time of the offenses.

In a letter to the Chairman of Parliamentary Committees, Parkinson explained that, although there were further testimonies of witnesses, “none of them stated that at the time of the offense China was a threat to national security, and at the end of August 2025 it would not be realized.” He concluded by saying: “When this was clear, the case could not go ahead.”

Its fire against the government was also turned by the opposition. Ms was working for the Conservative MP, Alicia Kerns, who called on ministers to “reveal the truth” to the collapse of the case. In a statement to the PA news agency, she said: “The government has to tell the truth – who is responsible for the torpedoing of prosecution? Ongoing stubbornness raises further concerns about concealment or conspiracy. The workers have managed to undermine the law enforcement authorities, our security services and our prosecutors, while sending the message to China and the British people the message that they will not defend our democracy. “

For his part, a spokesman for the liberal democrats for foreign affairs, Callum Miller, said: “China is clearly a threat to the United Kingdom’s national security. The head of MI6 said this in 2021. It is shocking that a case against two men accused of acting on behalf of China to obtain confidential information from MPs collapsed because ministers and government officials refused to confirm that China is. “

Starmer explained that retroactive policy changes cannot be applied to past offenses. “As a result, the statements were then drafted according to the policy of the government at the time and have not changed. That was the position then. You can’t persecute someone two years later for a characterization that didn’t exist at that time, “he told reporters.

The current government describes China as “a complex and persistent challenge” instead of calling it an immediate threat. Political analysts estimate that Starmer’s efforts to build relations with the world’s second -largest economy may explain the government’s reluctance to adopt tougher language against Beijing.