THE First Minister has expressed concern over the UK Government's plan to allow Chinese tech firm Huawei to have a role in Britain's 5G network.
It appears the Prime Minister plans to go ahead with the controversial move, which has sparked backlash among his own party, as he prepares to chair a meeting of the National Security Council.
It is thought the US could also take issue with the move, as the country has lobbied against the company's involvement on security grounds.
Nicola Sturgeon warned there are "very big, and very real, security concerns" around the project.
She went on: "Obviously I am not privy to all of the information that the UK Government has, but I think we have to act very much in a precautionary basis when we are building digital infrastructure, to make sure that we are doing that in a robust way that has security very much at its heart.”
Senior Tories spoke out against the proposal yesterday, with former leader Iain Duncan Smith saying allowing the company to have a part in the UK's 5G network would be "utterly bizarre".
And Bob Seely, who hopes to be the next Foreign Affairs Committee chair, criticised the lack of parliamentary debate on the subject, warning ministers: "Whoever controls 5G will affect significantly our rule of law, our data privacy, our security and our freedom to support our allies."
Huawei has repeatedly denied having links to the Chinese state.
The UK Government pointed out that Huawei has been involved in the UK's technology and communications infrastructure for 15 years, and that security risks could be dealt with by the National Security Council.
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