The Prime Minister has been warned by senior Conservatives that he must issue a clear give legally-binding date to strip Huawei from the United Kingdom’s 5G network or face defeat in the Commons.
Conservatives are pressing for a concrete pledge by HM’s Government within the next two months, while crucial legislation is expected to go through Parliament.
Writing in The Telegraph, Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Bob Seely said: “Parliament is feeling increasingly restless about the UK’s dependency on China. More and more legislators are recognising that how we handle this issue hugely affects our constituents.”
HM’s Government is currently planning to put a ban on new Huawei equipment being installed into the UK network from 2023 or 2024, however many MPs feel this does not go far enough. Instead, they have called on the Government to agree to having “all Huawei equipment removed from the UK network, root and branch, by a fixed date”.
Sir Iain and Mr Seely confirmed that 59 MPs have now joined the Huawei Interest Group of Conservative MPs.
Sir Iain and Mr Seely said the Parliamentary arithmetic on upcoming legislation is “troubling ministers”.
They said that MPs are “no longer prepared to sit idly by as a nascent superpower, run by a repressive and intolerant government, undermines the global rules-based order”, adding: “In allowing Huawei into our 5G networks, we have undermined the unity of the shared Five Eyes approach to the global conduct of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Neil O’Brien, the Conservative MP who co-leads the China Research Group, told Journalists: “There are important choices to make on whether changes will only affect the 5G network or also older Huawei 3G and 4G equipment that is in the network now.
“There are also choices on whether to set a date for stopping new inflow of Huawei equipment, or a date to have eliminated it by.”
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Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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