play Live Sign upShow navigation menuplay Live Click here to searchsearchSign upNews|PoliceUK police arrest three men on suspicion of spying for ChinaHusband of a lawmaker from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ruling Labour Party among those arrested, local media report.
Listen to this article | 3 minsinfoA Metropolitan Police lantern is displayed outside Charing Cross police station on October 02, 2025 in London, England [Leon Neal/Getty Images]By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP, Reuters and The Associated PressPublished On 4 Mar 20264 Mar 2026Click here to share on social mediashare2Share
googleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoBritish police have arrested three men suspected of spying for China, including the husband of a lawmaker from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ruling Labour Party, local media reported.
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday that the three men had allegedly assisted a foreign intelligence service, in violation of the country’s National Security Act of 2023, which was introduced to grant additional powers to tackle foreign interference.
While the police did not name those who have been detained, as they are yet to be charged, they said they included a 39-year-old man arrested in London, a 68-year-old man arrested in Powys, Wales, and a 43-year-old man arrested in Pontyclun, Wales.
Following reports by The Times and the Telegraph that the husband of Joani Reid, the Labour lawmaker for the East Kilbride area in Wales, was among those arrested, she issued a statement saying she had “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,” the statement said.
“I have never been to China. I have never spoken on China or China-related matters in the [House of] Commons,” it added, without naming her husband, David Taylor, a former Labour Party adviser who is 39 years old.
In recent years, China and the United Kingdom have traded spying accusations, straining the relations between the two countries.
In a statement, the Chinese embassy in London condemned what it called attempts to “fabricate facts and concoct so-called ‘espionage cases’ to maliciously slander China”, and said it had lodged a protest with the British side.
British officials complained to their Chinese counterparts about the latest arrests, Security Minister Dan Jarvis said.
“The government has been consistent and unambiguous in our assessment that China presents a series of threats to the United Kingdom,” Jarvis said.
“We remain deeply concerned by an increasing pattern of covert activity from Chinese state-linked actors targeting UK democracy.”
Last November, Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, MI5, warned lawmakers that Chinese agents were making “targeted and widespread” efforts to recruit them through cover companies or LinkedIn, claims that Beijing has strongly denied.
The arrests could cast a shadow over British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s attempts to improve relations with Beijing following a January visit and the approval for China to build the largest embassy in Europe in the British capital, despite criticism that Starmer was prioritising the economy over security risks.
