16 September 2023 , 17:42
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Parliament must urgently review thousands of passes granting access to heart of British democracy, campaigners have warned.
It follows the arrest of a Parliamentary researcher on suspicion of breaking the Official Secrets act - and accusations he was acting as a spy for China. Official records show more than 13,500 passes were in circulation in 2021 - granting Parliament workers, political staff, journalists, MPs and Peers access to the Houses of Parliament. A Mirror investigation found MPs and Peers alone had sponsored 2,257 passes by September 2022 - a figure which rose by 4.2% to 2,352 this year.
Tom Brake, director of campaign group Unlock Democracy, said: “The sheer number of passes in circulation will make the police's job of checking and re-checking the suitability of every applicant very time consuming. This could be at the expense of more detailed scrutiny of specific individuals. It is time to rationalise the number of passes to enable the police to concentrate even more heavily on higher risk categories and ensure our democracy has the strongest defences possible.”
And Tory MP Caroline Nokes has called for an audit of passholders, saying: “We need them to be looking at what passes have been issued…and making sure that those who shouldn't have them don't." MPs are allowed to hand passes out to staff and researchers who “genuinely and personally provide parliamentary secretarial or research assistance” And the rules for Peers were tightened up last year to crack down on lobbyists using passes given to them by Lords to further “ interests of their own or of other organisations for which they work.“
Passholders are required to declare any relevant outside interests that might give the appearance of a conflict of interests. But this newspaper has learned the man arrested over spying claims did not declare any interests to Commons authorities during his time working for a senior Tory MP.
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As well as being employed by the MP, he was a director of the influential China Research Group - a group of Tory MPs set up by Security Minister Tom Tugendhat to debate how Britain should respond to the rise of China - until June 2023.
And he remained on the MPs declared list of sponsored passholders until at least April, a month after his arrest. The researcher insisted he was “completely innocent” in a statement following news of his arrest.
In a statement issued through his lawyers, he said: “I feel forced to respond to the media accusations that I am a ‘Chinese spy’. It is wrong that I should be obliged to make any form of public comment on the misreporting that has taken place. However, given what has been reported, it is vital that it is known that I am completely innocent. I have spent my career to date trying to educate others about the challenge and threats presented by the Chinese Communist Party. To do what has been claimed against me in extravagant news reporting would be against everything I stand for.”