Andrew Parker, head of MI5, doesn’t seem like a wild, risk-taking kind of guy. Britain’s spymaster general has risen through the ranks by taking decisions to keep us as safe as we can possibly be.
So, if he reckons — as he says today — that our relations with US security services would be just fine if we allow Huawei kit in our 5G network, we have little to fear.
The Government will pronounce in the next couple of weeks whether the Chinese firm’s equipment should be allowed. America wants a ban, but we should politely ignore its advice.
The fact is, we need Huawei.
Thanks to European policy blunders over the past decade or so, Huawei’s 5G technology has totally outpaced our homegrown suppliers. It is now 18 months ahead of Nokia and Ericsson’s, and cheaper, too.
So, if we excluded it, most of us would have to wait years to get 5G, and the economic benefits it promises to bring. While we’re on hold, other countries would be leaping ahead, creating new 5G-led businesses instead of us.
UK mobile firms have already been building 5G with Huawei kit in the non-core parts of the network which cannot access customer details. It would be foolish now to order them to rip it all out, even if the US wants us to.
A compromise is needed where our firms cap at, say, 50%, how much any part of the network should go to Huawei. Companies should be given a grace period of perhaps three years to reach that goal, giving Nokia and Ericsson time to get up to speed.
We need good relations with the US but must safeguard our economic plans, too.
