Tory MPs have urged Boris Johnson to accelerate new legislation designed to make it harder for state-owned companies from overseas countries such as China to take over struggling UK firms.
The move comes as government officials confirmed the prime minister was drawing up plans to force a full phase out of Chinese telecoms company Huawei from Britain’s 5G networks within three years, a policy U-turn that is the latest sign of chilling relations between London and Beijing.
The UK government has spent a decade courting inward investment from China. But with increasing concerns that Beijing did not disclose the initial scale of the coronavirus outbreak, foreign secretary Dominic Raab has announced an end to “business as usual” with Beijing.