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The partner of a sitting Labour MP is among three men who have been arrested on suspicion of spying for China, the Guardian understands.
The Met police took the men into custody on Wednesday morning on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, and as part of a wider investigation into national security offences related to China.
Detectives from counter-terrorism policing London, which is leading the investigation, arrested a 39-year-old man in London, 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.
However, sources told the Guardian they included the partner of a Labour MP. A second person is understood to be the partner of a former Labour MP. The identity of the third, or whether they have any links to parliament, is unknown.
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, while saying 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,” Jarvis told MPs.
As well as searches at the addresses where the arrests were made, counter-terrorism detectives are carrying out searches at what are understood to be residential addresses in London, East Kilbride in Scotland, and Cardiff in Wales.
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, head of counter-terrorism policing for the Met, 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 went on: “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.”
Responding for the Conservatives, Alex Burghart, the shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, referred to the Guardian report about two of those arrested being the partners of a sitting and former Labour MP, asking Jarvis if he could confirm this.
Jarvis replied by telling Burghart he “will understand that there are very strict limitations in terms of what I can say about what is obviously now a live police investigation”.
Previous cases of alleged spying within parliament have caused deep concern in Westminster, prompting warnings of a serious “systemic challenge” to British democracy.
Last year it emerged that prosecution cases against two men with parliamentary links accused of spying for China had been 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, 30, and Christopher Berry, 32, were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service, which initially only said 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.
