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Boris Johnson bracing for first parliamentary rebellion over 5G bill

10 March 2020 12:51 (UTC +04:00)

Boris Johnson’s first challenge in Parliament after the January victory is set to be focused on Huawei, APA reports citing Sputnik.

A number of Tory MPs, led by former party leader Iain Duncan Smith, are seeking to shut the Chinese telecoms company out of Britain’s 5G market.

The group, which also includes ex-Cabinet ministers Damian Green and David Davis, will try to amend the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill. It is scheduled for a third reading later in the day.

Their amendment to the bill pushes for firms seen as “high-risk vendors” by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to be banned from 5G infrastructure by the end of 2022.

The MPs said they expect up to 30 Conservatives to back the amendment. The party has an 80-seat majority, which means that such a motion is unlikely to succeed even if all opposition lawmakers support it.

Still, it seems that the looming revolt has caused concern at 10 Downing Street, which reportedly arranged a briefing for the MPs by NCSC experts to try to persuade them Huawei poses no security risk.