Parliament’s security committee has criticised prosecutors for pulling their charges against two men accused of spying for Beijing, in a damning report that concluded the handling of the case was “shambolic”.

MPs said that a process “beset by confusion and misaligned expectations” and “inadequate” communication between the government and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had contributed to the collapse of the trial, while several “opportunities to correct course were missed”.

The report concludes the committee’s six-week investigation into the collapse of the high-profile trial of Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher and Christopher Berry, a teacher, who faced allegations of espionage .

The CPS unexpectedly dropped its charges, which had been brought under the 1911

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