Three witness statements by 
deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins were published by Downing Street on Oct 15 as the government faced questions from ministers and MPs, after charges were unexpectedly dropped against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry last month.
The first of these three statements was given to prosecutors in Dec 2023, when Collins was serving under a Conservative government. The second and third statements were submitted this year after Labour had taken power.
The documents show that in Dec 2023, Collins concluded: "The Chinese Intelligence Services are highly capable and conduct large scale espionage operations against the UK and other international partners to advance the Chinese state's interest and harm the interests and security of the UK."
In Feb 2025, he said: "China is an authoritarian state, with different values to the UK. This presents challenges for both the UK and our allies. China and the UK both benefit from bilateral trade and investment, but China also present the biggest state-based threat to the UK's economic security."
And in a third statement this August, he said China's "espionage operations threaten the UK's economic prosperity and resilience, and the integrity of our democratic institutions".
He pointed to a number of actions which UK authorities believe Beijing was behind, including a cyber-attack on the UK electoral commission between 2021 and 2023.
In his 2025 statements, Collins made clear the government sought a good economic relationship with China, writing: "It is important for me to emphasise, however that the government is committed to pursuing a positive economic relationship with China.
"The government believes that the UK must continue to engage with international partners on trade and investment to grow our economy while ensuring that our security and values are not compromised."
When the second statement was signed by Collins, it was dated in error as Feb 2024. But the government said it had actually been signed and submitted to prosecutors in Feb 2025, by which time Labour were in power, and this had been clarified to the CPS at the time.
Collins assumed he had given enough evidence for the prosecution to continue when he submitted his third witness statement in Aug 2025.
In his first statement, Collins wrote in detail about the allegations made about Cash and Berry he said were based on information provided to him by counter-terrorism police.
Collins said in this 2023 statement "it had been assessed that the Chinese state recruited Berry as an agent and successfully directed him to utilise Mr Cash" who had access to the Commons China Research Group (CRG) and other MPs.
Cash worked as a parliamentary researcher and was involved with the CRG, which was set up by a group of Conservative MPs looking into how the UK should respond to the rise of China.
In his statement, Collins said that in July 2022, Berry met with a senior Chinese Communist Party leader and that he understood Cash was made aware of the meeting by Berry.
Collins said Cash responded to Berry with multiple messages, including one reading: "You're in spy territory now."
Collins also said information gathered was passed to an individual named "Alex" who was believed to be an agent of the Chinese state.
He said in assessing whether this was prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state, he had proceeded on the basis the facts, as alleged, by counter-terrorism police were true.
This included information about the prospect of Tom Tugendhat MP being made a minister and the likelihood of Jeremy Hunt pulling out of the Conservative leadership race.
bbc.com/news/articles/
witness statement #1 
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68f0022c
witness statement #2 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68f00240
witness statement #3 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68f00250
deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins were published by Downing Street on Oct 15 as the government faced questions from ministers and MPs, after charges were unexpectedly dropped against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry last month.
The first of these three statements was given to prosecutors in Dec 2023, when Collins was serving under a Conservative government. The second and third statements were submitted this year after Labour had taken power.
The documents show that in Dec 2023, Collins concluded: "The Chinese Intelligence Services are highly capable and conduct large scale espionage operations against the UK and other international partners to advance the Chinese state's interest and harm the interests and security of the UK."
In Feb 2025, he said: "China is an authoritarian state, with different values to the UK. This presents challenges for both the UK and our allies. China and the UK both benefit from bilateral trade and investment, but China also present the biggest state-based threat to the UK's economic security."
And in a third statement this August, he said China's "espionage operations threaten the UK's economic prosperity and resilience, and the integrity of our democratic institutions".
He pointed to a number of actions which UK authorities believe Beijing was behind, including a cyber-attack on the UK electoral commission between 2021 and 2023.
In his 2025 statements, Collins made clear the government sought a good economic relationship with China, writing: "It is important for me to emphasise, however that the government is committed to pursuing a positive economic relationship with China.
"The government believes that the UK must continue to engage with international partners on trade and investment to grow our economy while ensuring that our security and values are not compromised."
When the second statement was signed by Collins, it was dated in error as Feb 2024. But the government said it had actually been signed and submitted to prosecutors in Feb 2025, by which time Labour were in power, and this had been clarified to the CPS at the time.
Collins assumed he had given enough evidence for the prosecution to continue when he submitted his third witness statement in Aug 2025.
In his first statement, Collins wrote in detail about the allegations made about Cash and Berry he said were based on information provided to him by counter-terrorism police.
Collins said in this 2023 statement "it had been assessed that the Chinese state recruited Berry as an agent and successfully directed him to utilise Mr Cash" who had access to the Commons China Research Group (CRG) and other MPs.
Cash worked as a parliamentary researcher and was involved with the CRG, which was set up by a group of Conservative MPs looking into how the UK should respond to the rise of China.
In his statement, Collins said that in July 2022, Berry met with a senior Chinese Communist Party leader and that he understood Cash was made aware of the meeting by Berry.
Collins said Cash responded to Berry with multiple messages, including one reading: "You're in spy territory now."
Collins also said information gathered was passed to an individual named "Alex" who was believed to be an agent of the Chinese state.
He said in assessing whether this was prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state, he had proceeded on the basis the facts, as alleged, by counter-terrorism police were true.
This included information about the prospect of Tom Tugendhat MP being made a minister and the likelihood of Jeremy Hunt pulling out of the Conservative leadership race.
bbc.com/news/articles/
witness statement #1 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68f0022c
witness statement #2 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68f00240
witness statement #3 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68f00250
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Byron Wan
@Byron_Wan
Christopher Berry, one of the suspects in the China spy case, allegedly had secure communication apps used only by Beijing agents installed on ‘burner phones’.
The suspicious apps, which are not available to the Chinese public, were allegedly found on Berry’s mobiles after he x.com/byron_wan/stat…
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