Government sees off Tory rebellion over Huawei involvement in UK 5G network

2 months ago

Boris Johnson has survived the first Conservative rebellion of the new Parliament over the involvement of Chinese telecoms firm Huawei in the UK’s 5G network.

Conservative critics led by former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith tabled an amendment seeking to ban “high-risk vendors” from the system after 2022.

But the Government won the vote on Tuesday with a majority of 24 after ministers moved to head off a revolt over fears Huawei is a risk to UK security.

The Prime Minister was able to fend off the rebellion from within his own party thanks to the 80-strong majority won at the December general election.

Critics are concerned that his decision to allow Huawei to supply “non-core” elements of the 5G network could jeopardise security because of the firm’s ties to the Chinese state.

The White House has banned the firm from US telecoms networks and has been highly-critical of the Government’s decision, which came despite intense lobbying from the States.

Sir Iain had warned MPs that the rebels were “genuinely concerned” about the involvement of the firm he described as being “essentially almost completely owned” by Chinese trade unions controlled by the state.

“The reality is that when it comes to security versus cost, my view is security wins every single time because I worry when we start compromising security,” he added.

Conservative former trade secretary Liam Fox urged the UK to “avoid the risk” by not using Huawei rather than seeking to mitigate it.

“In order to achieve greater trade with China, we do not need to sacrifice our national security by including Huawei as part of that risk,” he added to the Commons.

Ahead of the vote defeated by 282 votes to 306, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden wrote to Tory MPs setting out the measures the Government was taking to restrict Huawei’s involvement.

And he restated the commitment to see the firm replaced by competitors over time.

“I wish to stress again that the Government is clear-eyed about the challenges posed by Huawei,” Mr Dowden wrote.

“That is why the National Security Council made a decision to: exclude them from the security critical network functions in 5G networks, and reduce their presence in other network functions up to a strict market share cap of 35%.

“This position is based on the comprehensive security advice provided by the cyber security branch of GCHQ, the National Cyber Security Centre.”

Critics of the Government’s approach also include former Cabinet ministers Damian Green and David Davis, Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat and Tory backbench 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady.

Their move reflects widespread misgivings across the party over the decision, with fears that it could give China a “backdoor” to spy on the UK’s telecoms network.