Dawn
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12:35 Mar 05, 2026
UK police on Thursday said they had released three people arrested on suspicion of spying for China, including the husband of a lawmaker from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ruling Labour Party. The trio, aged 39, 43 and 68, were arrested on Wednesday by counter-terrorism officers in London and Wales on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service. All three had “subsequently been released on bail to a date in May”, London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement. Chinese espionage is a politically sensitive subject in Britain and the case could become awkward for Starmer, who visited Beijing recently, aiming to reset relations with the Asian giant. The media reported that the husband of Labour lawmaker Joani Reid was among the three. Reid said on Wednesday that she had never “seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law”. Her husband, David Taylor, 39, is listed as a “lobbyist” on her list of registered interests. According to his LinkedIn page, he works for Asia House, a think tank...