US sanctions on Huawei ‘may impact on 5G role’

US SANCTIONS on Huawei are likely to have a “significant impact” on the firm’s ability to play a role in the UK’s 5G network, the Culture Secretary has said.

Oliver Dowden said yesterday that he has received a National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) report on the Chinese technology firm and will be discussing it with Boris Johnson.

The Prime Minister has been under enduring pressure from his own backbenches to halt the company’s involvement over concerns that it presents a security risk.

Mr Dowden said the decision to permit Huawei limited access is not “fixed in stone”, meaning a major U-turn from the PM could be on the horizon.

Mr Dowden said the NCSC had reviewed the impact of the sanctions announced by the US in May in a bid by President Trump’s administration to cut the firm off from international semiconductor supplies.

“We believe that could have a significant impact on the reliability of Huawei equipment and whether we can use it safely,” the minister told Sky News.

“I’ve just received that advice, I’m working through it, the Prime Minister will do, and if it’s appropriate to change policy we’ll clearly make a statement in the House of Commons when we’ve been through that and reached a collective decision.”

Mr Dowden later said on LBC radio that he would aim to tell Parliament

whether there is to be a policy change later this month, before MPs rise for the summer recess.

Lord Mandelson, the Labour former minister who is bidding to become the World Trade Organisation’s director-general, said the sanctions had been a victory for the States.

“We have to understand this is fundamentally not a question of security, it’s a commercial war between the US and China,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.