Credit: Linkedin p>Chinese security cameras that filmed Matt Hancock's affair with a senior aide should be banned from government buildings under new national security regulations.
Suppliers under new public sector procurement laws , including Hikvision and Dahua, two of China's leading CCTV manufacturers, will be blocked in the British state.
According to the new procurement law, companies subject to China's National Security Law will be prohibited from bidding on government contracts.
This comes amid growing fears that Chinese companies could offer a loophole for Beijing to spy on. China's National Security Law, passed in 2021, requires companies with local headquarters to hand over any information required by state intelligence agencies if asked to do so.
Sir Ian Duncan Smith, former Conservative leader, and MP Alicia Kearns, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, campaigned to ban providers, including Hikvision, from visiting Parliament and government buildings on grounds of national security.
Hikvision said the claim that the company poses a security threat is “categorically false.”
Ms Kearns said, “I'm glad the government listened to me and took action after my efforts to put national security in basis of the procurement bill. .
“From local councils to power plants to security agencies like GCHQ, we must make sure that hostile states cannot introduce hostile state-subsidized technologies into our lives.”
Mr. Hancock, the former Minister of Health, was caught on Hikvision's security cameras in a passionate embrace with assistant Gina Coladangelo, whom he appointed non-executive director of the Department of Health. The scandal led to his resignation.
A criminal investigation into the leak of The Sun footage was closed without action after investigators said there was not enough evidence to bring charges. There is no suggestion that Hikvision was involved in the footage being leaked.
Hikvision cameras were a common sight in government offices until recently.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden ordered the government last year buildings to stop the installation of cameras subject to Chinese security laws, and the ministries of Health and Welfare, and Labor and Pensions have pledged to remove them.
Cabinet Minister Alex Burghart said: “That's absolutely right, that we continue to look at ways to strengthen central government rules when it comes to national security and I have no doubt that these additional measures will ensure that the bill achieves its goal of creating a robust, modern procurement process that benefits the British people.”< /p>< p>The Beijing National Security Law has sparked a wave of crackdowns on Chinese companies across the Western world, most notably Huawei and TikTok.
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