Chinese spies have been given a licence to operate in parliament after the decision to drop charges against two men accused of espionage, the Speaker of the Commons has warned.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle is weighing up whether to carry out a private prosecution against the two men accused of targeting the China Research Group of MPs.
Hoyle has written to Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, amid concerns that foreign states will be able to act with impunity.
The decision by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to retract the charges has been criticised by the Home Office, which said it was "disappointing that they will not face trial given the seriousness of the allegations".
The prime minister's official spokesman said "any attempt by a foreign power to infiltrate our Parliament or democracy is unacceptable".
Sir Lindsay told the Commons that he was "very unhappy" about the decision, and said: "The fact that it has taken two years, until today, for somebody to withdraw this case is not good enough."
He told the Times: "I believe this leaves the door open to foreign actors trying to spy on the House. This door must be closed hard."
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Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former Conservative Party leader, said it was “more likely than not” that Chinese spies were active within parliament.
He told Times Radio: “We’ve seen them hacking into accounts, we’ve seen them already with these two accusations, but there have been more which have had no further pressure on them, and I think the problem about this is, if you operate an open parliament, which is, believe it or not, what democracy is all about, you always run a greater risk that they will use this as a backdoor into intelligence gathering.
“We’re living in la-la land at the moment in the government, thinking that somehow China will be all right. They are absolutely locked together. China supports Russia with weapons, for God’s sake. It’s got North Korea involved with them. Iran has been giving them these drones.
“They work together. They are an axis of authoritarian states, and everything they do is co-ordinated. now, and we are in a mess over in the West.”
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Ken McCallum, the director-general of MI5, had said that hostile states had tried to influence ministers, MPs and political candidates. McCallum has repeatedly spoken since about Chinese interference, warning that anyone working in the political, military or technology arenas, in cutting-edge scientific research or certain export markets is a potential target.
MI5 has also publicised more than 10,000 “disguised approaches” from Chinese intelligence to Britons on LinkedIn.
Cash and Berry were formally found not guilty after prosecutors said the evidential threshold was no longer reached. Both said they were innocent and should never have been charged.
But the affair has served as another reminder to MPs of the likelihood they are being targeted.
Bobby: “that’s the old paper one you need a new card one”