The husband of a lawmaker from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ruling Labor Party is among those arrested, local media report.
Published March 4, 2026
British police arrested three men suspected of spying for China, including the husband of a lawmaker from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ruling Labor Party, local media reported.
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday that the three men had allegedly assisted a foreign intelligence service, in breach of the country’s National Security Act 2023, which was introduced to give additional powers to tackle foreign interference.
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While police did not name those arrested as they have not yet been 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 in The Times and Telegraph that the husband of Joani Reid, a Labor lawmaker from the East Kilbride area of Wales, was among those arrested, she issued a statement saying she had “never seen anything that made me suspect my husband had 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 about China or China-related issues in the Commons,” she added, without naming her husband, David Taylor, a 39-year-old former Labor Party adviser.
In recent years, China and the United Kingdom have traded accusations of espionage, straining relations between the two countries.
In a statement, the Chinese embassy in London condemned what it called attempts to “invent facts and fabricate so-called ‘espionage cases’ to maliciously smear China,” and said it had lodged a protest with the British side.
British officials have complained to their Chinese counterparts about the latest arrests, Security Minister Dan Jarvis said.
“The government has been consistent and unequivocal in our assessment that China poses a number of threats to the UK,” Jarvis said.
“We remain deeply concerned about a growing pattern of covert activity by Chinese state-linked actors targeting UK democracy.”
Last November, Britain’s national intelligence agency, MI5, warned lawmakers that Chinese agents were making “targeted and widespread” efforts to recruit them through covert companies or LinkedIn, claims Beijing has strongly denied.
The arrests could overshadow British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s attempts to improve relations with Beijing following a visit in January and approval for China to build Europe’s largest embassy in the British capital, despite criticism that Starmer was prioritizing the economy over security risks.
