British government sees off rebellion over Huawei

Ministers say they want to reduce the role of the Chinese company in the new 5G network

British MPs failed to restrict the role of Huawei in the new 5G network. Reuters

UK prime minister Boris Johnson has seen off a parliamentary rebellion over the involvement of Chinese telecoms firm Huawei in building the country’s 5G network.

Members of his ruling party wanted to change the law to end the involvement of Huawei by the end of 2022. The government defeated the rebellion, led by a former leader of the ruling Conservative party, after promising to further limit the Chinese company’s influence in the network.

The government in January defied lobbying by the United States to allow Huawei a limited involvement in building the high-speed network.

But MPs from Mr Johnson’s party had claimed that the company had links to China’s ruling communist party that could threaten the UK’s critical infrastructure. Allowing Huawei to remain part of the project saved the UK billions of pounds.

Before the vote, the government said that it was committed to further reducing the involvement of Huawei, which is already capped at 35 per cent of the project.

“We want to get to a position where we don't need to rely on them at all,” said the Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden.

The vote – which the government won by 24 votes – was the first major rebellion against Boris Johnson since he won a sweeping victory in December elections giving his party the biggest mandate to rule since the 1980s.