UK MP's husband among three accused of spying for China

British police on Wednesday arrested three men on suspicion of spying for China, including the husband of a lawmaker from the ruling Labour party.

The trio, aged 39, 43 and 68, were arrested by counter-terrorism officers in London and Wales on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, London's Metropolitan police said.

"I have never seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law," said MP Joani Reid after UK media reported that her husband David Taylor was among those arrested.

"I am not part of my husband's business activities and neither I nor my children are part of this investigation," she added.

The arrests come amid rising concerns over alleged Chinese espionage in the UK. All three men remain in custody and searches were also carried out an address in Scotland, said the Met.

Reid, who represents a constituency in Scotland and sits on parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee, defended herself against any potential accusations of her being close to Beijing.

"I have never been to China," she said. "I have never spoken on China or China-related matters in the Commons. I have never asked a question on China-related matters."

Taylor, 39, is listed as a "lobbyist" on Reid's list of registered interests. According to his LinkedIn page, he works for Asia House, a think tank.

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Earlier, security minister Dan Jarvis told MPs the UK had made diplomatic representations to China over the matter.

"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," he said. 

"We remain deeply concerned by an increasing pattern of covert activity from Chinese state linked actors targeting UK democracy," Jarvis added.

The speaker of the House of Commons lower chamber told MPs that the suspect, Reid's husband, "did not have a pass to access the parliamentary estate".

Britain's domestic spy agency MI5 warned in November that China was attempting to "cultivate individuals" with access to sensitive information about parliament and the UK government. 

Last year, legal proceedings against two men accused of spying for China, one of whom had been a parliamentary researcher, collapsed, sparking a political row.

Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London at the Met, said Wednesday that the force had seen "a significant increase in our casework relating to national security in recent years".

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