Rutland and Melton's MP, Alicia Kearns, has confirmed that she will remain silent on Chinese spy links.

The parliamentary researcher that has been arrested on suspicion of spying for China was employed by the MP for Rutland and Melton, Alicia Kearns, it has been revealed. The Westminster employee was arrested in March according to The Sunday Times and allegedly had several connections to senior Tory MPs.

Ms Kearns currently sits at chair of the foreign affairs committee, a group of MPs which scrutinises the government's policy and spending on overseas issues. The suspect, a man in his 20s, is also understood to have links to the security minister, Tom Tugendhat.

Another man in his 30s was arrested in March by police in relation to the investigation, which officers from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command are leading. In a statement, Scotland Yard said: "Searches were also carried out at both the residential properties, as well as at a third address in east London."

Melton and Rutland's Conservative MP, Alicia Kearns, will remain silent on suggestions that a parliamentary aide employed by her is a Chinese spy, until UK authorities finish looking into the matter.

Through her X account (formerly Twitter), Mrs Kearns said: "I am aware of the Sunday Times report. I will not be commenting. While I recognise the public interest, we all have a duty to ensure any work of the authorities is not jeopardised."

The Sunday Times reported on 10 September that Chris Cash, 28, arrested on suspicion of spying for China, was the director of an influential policy group on Beijing co-founded by the security minister, Tom Tugendhat MP, also Conservative.

Mr Cash, who was detained by the Metropolitan Police on 13 March, was also employed as a researcher by Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee.

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Mr Cash was the research lead at the China Research Group, an organisation set up in April 2020 by a group of Conservative MPs aiming to promote debate and fresh thinking about how Britain should respond to the rise of China. As such, Mr Cash would have held a parliamentary pass, but did not have full security clearance.

Parliamentary passes are required by everyone working on the parliamentary estate, who require access to the parliamentary network, or being given access to sensitive parliamentary information. However, they are supposed to be returned upon the completion of any work being done.

Mr Cash was in possession of his parliament pass as late as 28 April, but it is not immediately clear how much access he might have had to foreign affairs intelligence, or what kind of influence, if any, he might have held in Westminster.

He previously worked for the British Council in Hangzhou, China, teaching English, and holds an MSc in China and Globalisation Studies from the Lau China Institute at King's College London and an MA in Modern History from the University of St Andrew's.

Security official now believe that he was recruited as a 'sleeper agent' while living and working in China.

Mrs Kearns has added that this is an ongoing enquiry by the security authorities, and it would be inappropriate to comment on the matter until that investigation is concluded. But she did say that she has been a 'thorn in the side' of the Chinese government recently, raising issues such as the possible use of forced labour of minority groups such as the Uyghur, and that this was a 'bad day' for the Chinese 'because this time they got caught out'.

Last week, the Conservative Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, in a showdown at the G20, told Chinese premier, Li Qiang, he has: "…significant concerns about Chinese interference in the UK's parliamentary democracy."