The former head of MI6, Richard Dearlove, has urged the UK Government to ban Chinese technology company Huawei from helping to build the 5G network, reports The Telegraph.

In a report from the Henry Jackson society, Dearlove said he was hopeful that the Government would reconsider the Huawei decision, warning that power could be exercised over societies and other countries by controlling communications. A spokesperson for Huawei told the newspaper that the report from the Henry Jackson Society was ‘long on politically motivated insinuation and short on fact’.

Meanwhile, Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright said that the UK would make its own decision on Huawei and would not be swayed by the the Trump administration decision to ban US organisations from working with ZTE and Huawei, writes The Telegraph. Speaking at a technology conference in Paris, he said that the UK was reviewing the security of the whole telecoms supply chain, and that it was wrong to focus on one single company or one single nation.

In response to questions from journalists, Wright said that US and UK both need to make their own decisions, adding that any decision would be based on evidence, the assessments of experts and what is best for operating a ‘safe and effective telecoms network. French President Emmanuel Macron also spoke at the conference, telling reporters that France’s strategy was not to block any Huawei or any company, and that France and Europe believed in ‘co-operation and multilateralism’.