A former Labour adviser who is married to a Labour MP is among three men who have been arrested on suspicion of spying for China.
David Taylor, the husband of the Labour MP Joani Reid, was arrested by detectives from counter-terrorism police in London on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, and as part of a wider investigation into national security offences related to China.
Police also arrested a 68-year-old man in Powys, Wales, and a 43-year-old man in Pontyclun, Wales. The police have not identified the men, who remain in custody, but they are both understood to be former Labour advisers.
Taylor was a former special adviser to the Labour peer Peter Hain when Lord Hain was the secretary of state for Wales, and has since been a lobbyist with a company called Earthcott. He is widely connected within the Labour party and Earthcott is listed as a supporter of a Labour business group, SME4Labour.
Taylor is also the director of policy and programmes at the thinktank Asia House, which is the secretariat for the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on central Asia – a forum for MPs and peers to discuss and raise issues concerning central Asian countries.
After her husband’s arrest, Reid, the MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, who is a member of the home affairs committee, said: “I have never seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law.
“I am not part of my husband’s business activities and neither I nor my children are part of this investigation, and we should not be treated by media organisations as though we are. Above all, I expect media organisations to respect my children’s privacy.”
She added: “I have never been to China. I have never spoken on China or China-related matters in the Commons. I have never asked a question on China-related matters.
“As far as I am aware I have never met any Chinese businesses whilst I have been an MP, any Chinese diplomats or government employees, nor raised any concern with ministers or anyone else on behalf of, even coincidentally, Chinese interests.”
The arrests come six months after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided to drop charges of spying for China against two men, one of whom was a parliamentary aide who had worked with two Tory MPs. The two men had been due to go on trial but the case collapsed.
Since then, Keir Starmer has come under pressure over his decision to visit China and attempt to improve relations, despite ministers and the security establishment acknowledging they were “gravely concerned” about the threat of Chinese espionage. The prime minister has also been criticised for allowing a Chinese “mega embassy” near the City of London to go ahead, saying security concerns had been addressed.
The latest arrests were raised in the House of Commons on Wednesday by the Conservative MP Greg Stafford who suggested that the MP concerned “sits on a select committee that would have information which is sensitive, maybe even secret” and would have visited defence sites across the UK.
The police said the arrests were part of a “proactive investigation” and that there was no “imminent or direct threat to the public”.
In a Commons statement, Dan Jarvis, the security minister, confirmed that the arrests related to China and said he could give no further details so as not to risk the police investigation.
“I can also confirm this relates to foreign interference targeting UK democracy,” Jarvis said. “If there is proven evidence of attempts by China to interfere with UK sovereign affairs, we will impose severe consequences and hold all actors involved to account.”
The Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, said the arrested men did not have parliamentary passes giving them access to the Westminster estate.
As well as searches at the addresses where the arrests were made, counter-terrorism detectives were searching what were understood to be residential addresses in London, East Kilbride and Cardiff.
Security services have been investigating foreign interference in UK democracy, including attempts to obtain information on policymaking and interfere with sovereign affairs.
Commander Helen Flanagan, the head of counter-terrorism policing for the Met police, said: “We have seen a significant increase in our casework relating to national security in recent years and we continue to work extremely closely with our partners to help keep the country safe and take action to disrupt malign activity where we suspect it.
“Today’s arrests are part of a proactive investigation and while these are serious matters, we do not believe there to be any imminent or direct threat to the public relating to this.”
Addressing MPs, Jarvis said British officials had formally protested to their Chinese counterparts in London and Beijing about the allegations “to raise our strong concerns”.
He added: “The government has been consistent and unambiguous in our assessment that China presents a series of threats to the United Kingdom.
“We remain deeply concerned by an increasing pattern of covert activity from Chinese state-linked actors targeting UK democracy. This involves attempts to obtain information on UK policymaking and interfere with our sovereign affairs.”
Jarvis said that people should realise that foreign powers would not just target politicians but those close to them.
“All of those who are involved in the wider political ecosystem are in play here, and that is an important message for people in this house and outside of this place to understand,” Jarvis said.
Previous cases of alleged spying within parliament have caused deep concern in Westminster, prompting warnings of a serious “systemic challenge” to British democracy.
The prosecution cases against two men with parliamentary links accused of spying for China were dropped because prosecutors could not obtain critical evidence from the government that Beijing represented a “threat to the national security of the UK”.
Spying charges against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry were dropped by the CPS, which initially said only that the “evidential standard” was no longer met, a month before a high-profile trial had been due to start.
Cash and Berry denied the charges. At the time of the alleged offences Cash was a researcher specialising in China working for the Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, and Berry, a friend, was a researcher based in China. They were accused of passing on information about Westminster that was ultimately sent to Cai Qi, a member of China’s ruling politburo.