Joani Reid ‘voluntarily suspends herself’ from Labour Party amid China spy probe

MP Joani Reid has stepped down from the Labour Party following the arrest of her husband on suspicion of spying for China.

David Taylor was one of three men arrested on Wednesday as part of an investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

In a statement, Reid said she was “voluntarily suspending herself” from the party whip while an internal party investigation is carried out.

Earlier, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar had confirmed an independent panel was considering whether action needed to be taken against Reid, the MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven.

Sarwar described the allegations against the three men as “incredibly serious, deeply concerning, [and] a matter of national security”, requiring a “full and thorough police investigation”.

“This week has been the worst of my life. The shock of recent days has been difficult for me and my family,” Reid said in the statement released on Thursday evening.

She said she was not under police investigation and had “done nothing wrong”.

“I am voluntarily suspending myself from the whip and will not sit as a Labour MP until internal investigations are concluded. I will welcome and co-operate with any questions and worries the party may have.”

Taylor was formerly a special adviser to Labour’s Peter Hain during his tenure as Welsh secretary.

He has since worked as a lobbyist and is the director of the firm Earthcott Limited, which is listed as a backer of Labour business group SME4Labour.

He was released on police bail alongside Matthew Aplin, 43, and Steve Jones, 68.

Both Reid and Taylor are understood to have been administratively suspended by Labour.

Reid, who was elected in 2024, is the granddaughter of the late trade unionist Jimmy Reid.

The SNP has called for Labour to launch an inquiry into her business affairs, following a report in The Herald that the MP’s former consultancy firm received loans from two of her husband’s companies, one in 2022 and another in 2023.

Reid Strategy Limited was wound up shortly after she was elected in July 2024.

SNP MP Kirsty Blackman said: “There are serious questions for Ms Reid to answer.

“If she genuinely had ‘no involvement’ in David Taylor's business activities, as she claims, then she must come clean and explain why her company received thousands of pounds in interest free loans from his businesses – as that appears to be the polar opposite of no involvement.”