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By Michael Holden
LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday promised to release evidence provided to prosecutors by a senior official, seeking to distance ministers from the collapse of a China spying case which has led to weeks of criticism.
In an unexpected move last month, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropped charges against two men who had denied passing politically sensitive information to a Chinese intelligence agent.
The CPS said the decision was made because the additional evidence it needed, clarifying that China was a threat to UK national security, had not been forthcoming from the government after months of trying.
Starmer said the fault lay with the previous Conservative administration which was in power when the men were charged and which had only described Beijing as an “epoch-defining challenge”.
The trial’s collapse has led to accusations from opposition parties that the government had been responsible because it did not want to jeopardise ties with China.
Seeking to draw a line under the issue on Wednesday, Starmer said he would publish in full the witness statements provided to the CPS by Britain’s Deputy National Security Adviser which he said had been made without any involvement from ministers or political advisers.
“The case did not proceed because the policy of the past government did not meet the test that was necessary, that is the long and the short of it,” Starmer told parliament.
“Far from evading I have said I will disclose the full witness statements … and the allegation that somehow they were changed, that the first statement, the second statements are different, is completely and utterly unfounded.”
However, Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, accused Starmer of blaming officials, the media and the previous administration for a decision his government had taken.
“A serious case involving national security has collapsed because this government is too weak to stand up to China,” she said.
(Additional reporting by Muvija M and Sam Tabahriti; Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Kate Holton)
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