Education secretary Gillian Keegan refused to say if China is a threat to national security a day after two individuals and a company linked to the Chinese state were sanctioned over attacks on the Electoral Commission between 2021 and 2022. The same company also carried out “reconnaissance” activity against UK parliamentary accounts in a separate campaign in 2021, Oliver Dowden told the House of Commons on Monday. British intelligence services believe Chinese spies are likely to use details stolen by hacking the elections watchdog to target dissidents and critics of Xi Jinping’s government in the UK. "I don’t want you to put words into my mouth… I’m not a diplomatic expert," Ms Keegan told Nick Ferrari on LBC.