London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Oct 13, 2025

Huawei: Government wins vote after backbench rebellion

Huawei: Government wins vote after backbench rebellion

The government has defeated the first rebellion from its own MPs over plans to allow Huawei to be used in the UK's 5G mobile network.

Thirty-eight Conservative rebels backed an amendment to end the Chinese firm's participation in the project by the start of 2023.

Despite promises from the government of a new bill to address their concerns, rebel MPs pushed their plan to a vote.

But with a large Commons majority, the government defeated it by 24 votes.

Culture Minister Matt Warman said the government had heard the points "loud and clear".

He added: "We will now engage intensively with colleagues across the House to make sure that we will make our case at every possible level…and we will underline that we will always put national security at the very top of our agenda."

The use of Huawei technology in the 5G network was signed off by No 10 and security experts earlier this year, with the caveats of keeping the kit out of the most sensitive areas and capping its market share at 35%.

But Tory critics say the firm is an arm of the Chinese state and a risk to UK security - claims the firm rejects.

Other countries, including the US and Australia, have banned Huawei from their own networks and criticised the UK's decision.

After the Commons vote, Huawei vice president Victor Zhang, said: "An evidence-based approach is needed, so we were disappointed to hear some groundless accusations asserted.

"The industry and experts agree that banning Huawei equipment would leave Britain less secure, less productive and less innovative."

A group of Tory MPs, led by the party's former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, put forward an amendment to the Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill to try and stop Huawei's involvement.

The amendment would have seen firms classified as "high-risk vendors" by the National Cyber Security Centre be banned entirely from the UK's 5G project by 31 December 2022.

Sir Iain said he and his colleagues were "genuinely concerned that this country has got itself far too bound in to a process in which we are reliant on untrusted vendors".

Speaking in the Commons, the backbencher accused the Chinese government of spending 20 years "underbidding" other technology firms until Huawei dominated the market, and the outcome was a risk to the UK's security.

He said using Huawei's technology was a "statement of absence of thought by any government", adding: "If defence of the realm is our number one priority, then this becomes demi-defence of the realm, and I am simply not prepared to put up with that."

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden tried to reassure the group of backbenchers with the promise of bringing forward a Telecoms Security Bill before the summer recess "so all honourable members will be able to debate these points extensively".

He also said the government wanted to work with its Five Eyes security partners - including the US - on alternative solutions so the UK could "get to a position where we do not have to use high-risk vendors at all".

But Mr Dowden could not give a timetable for the exclusion of such companies, except to say it would be "in this Parliament" - meaning within the next five years.

As a result, Sir Iain pushed his amendment to a vote, marking the first Tory rebellion against the government since Boris Johnson won the election in December.

However, while 282 MPs from across the House voted in favour of the amendment, 306 MPs voted against, defeating it.

There were 38 Conservative MPs who rebelled against their government by voting for the amendment - including former international trade secretary Liam Fox, ex-Brexit secretary David Davis and former housing minister Esther McVey.

Conservative MP and Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, Tom Tugendhat, also voted in favour of the amendment, saying he did "not get the commitments" he wanted from the government.

"I am sorry that I could not support the government. I hope the policy will change before we come to the main Telecoms Security Bill before the summer."

The Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill later passed without needing a vote.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
×