Sir Iain Duncan Smith

Senior Conservatives have expressed concerns over the Government’s decision to allow Chinese tech titan Huawei access to the UK’s 5G network.

The letter to fellow Tory MPs is from four former cabinet members, including Sir Iain Duncan Smith.

It’s also signed by Owen Paterson, David Davis and Damian Green.

The letter states:

“We are seeking to identify a means by which we ensure that only trusted vendors are allowed as primary contractors into our critical national infrastructure.

“Trusted vendors would be companies from countries that have fair market competition, rule of law, respect human rights, data privacy and non-coercive government agencies.”

The move came as US Vice-President Mike Pence was questioned on CNBC about the Huawei decision being a problem in the coming Brexit trade talks.

He said: “We’ll see. We’ll see if it is.”

He added: “We are profoundly disappointed because, look, when I went at the president’s direction in September I met with Prime Minister Johnson and I told him the moment the UK is out of Brexit we were willing to begin to negotiate a free trade arrangement with the UK.

“But we just don’t believe that utilising the assets, the technology of Huawei is consistent with the security or privacy interests of the UK, of the United States, and it remains a real issue between our two countries.”

Mr Pence was speaking after reports President Donald Trump was “apoplectic” with Prime Minister Boris Johnson after the Huawei deal was announced.