Boris Johnson is facing his first rebellion from Tory MPs in the House of Commons since his ascension to the role of Prime Minister, over Huawei’s role in the UK’s 5G mobile internet network.
Critics of the current government say that the Chinese firm is an arm of the Chinese state and a risk to UK security.
This comes amidst the UK’s coronavirus outbreak with the Prime minister being pressure to act fast to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Huawei will be excluded from the most sensitive parts of the 5G network, according to the government, who also claim that its overall market share will decline over time as new players emerge.
The US have banned Huawei from its own telecoms networks, and have since been highly critical of the decision by the UK, urging the British government to rethink its plans.
Up to 30 Tory MPs are rumoured to rebel on Tuesday by backing the amendment to the Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill. The government is however, unlikely to suffer a defeat, with a majority of 80.
But in an attempt to limit the size of the revolt, the government is reportedly arranging a series of meetings on Monday between MPs, including former cabinet ministers David Davis and Damian Green, as well as security officials from GCHQ.
Tory MP Bob Seely said that whatever the outcome of Tuesday’s vote, it was the “start of a process” of parliamentary discussions over Huawei’s role in the infrastructure of the UK’s mobile telecoms.
“The important thing is that, with the vibe that we’re getting from colleagues, many many more are very concerned about it,” he said.
Downing Street has said that the 35% market cap on Huawei is under review and said that they had hoped to get to a stage as quickly as possible where high-risk vendors were not required.
No 10 have insisted that the government’s leading cyber security advisers were happy with the current palns and that it would not impact on the UK’s ability to share intelligence with the US and its other leading allies.
The news of this move from MPs comes as they are set to earn a pay rise of 3.1% to £82k from the 1st of April.
