Ben Wallace, the Security Minister, said a lack of complete transparency in Westminster was a ‘weak point’ in Britain’s defences against hostile countries. He spoke out after an investigation found that seven members of the House of Lords had business interests linked to Russia, and some had made public statements in support of Moscow. Mr Wallace told The Sunday Times: “Countries that seek to undermine the West target vulnerabilities in their politics and media.

“The UK has a strong mainstream media that gives us better resilience than most but I am certain that one of our weak points is where we lack transparency in our political system.

“Salisbury taught us we have to harden the environment and plug the gaps where foreign intelligence agents exploit our open society and economy.”

Unlike MPs, peers do not have to declare how much money they have earned from foreign activities in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

Insiders said the plans would make it possible to kick out employees of the Chinese telecoms firm Huawei if they are found to be working for Chinese intelligence.

READ MORE: ‘What was May THINKING?’ Cyber expert issues grave China spy warning

A report today states that Huawei is nearly 99 percent owned by an entity that answers directly to “a core branch of the Chinese party-state apparatus”.

The report also stated allowing Huawei access to Britain’s mobile phone network would be “highly prejudicial” to security.

Fears of the threat from China erupted last week after Theresa May approved Huawei’s participation in Britain’s 5G network.

She was opposed by some intelligence chiefs and five cabinet ministers.

The crackdown comes as a Whitehall inquiry prepares to interview cabinet ministers about the leak of the Huawei decision.

Theresa May’s deputy David Lidington denied that the company was “intimately linked with the Chinese communist government” and their intelligence services, telling MPs it was “a private firm”.

But a new report by the Henry Jackson Society think tank today warns that it is “high-to-certain that Huawei acts on behalf of China’s intelligence organs”.

Mr Wallace has warned that action was needed to change parliamentary rules to ensure “transparency in our political system” in order to safeguard British democracy against “hybrid attacks” by hostile states.

Source: Read Full Article