MI5 warns of dangers in allowing Chinese involvement in Britain’s infrastructure

The British prime minister, Theresa May, has said that she may well have the British government pull out of its deal with the Chinese for the building of a nuclear plant at Hinkley. She is reported as having brought up the matter while speaking to the French president, Francois Hollande, last week.

When she was Home Secretary, Mrs May had consistently voiced her objections to and concerns about the British government’s power plant deal with China, which led to tensions between her and George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The man who is now her joint chief of staff, Nick Timothy, had written a blog post last year in which he warned that the Chinese could “build weaknesses into computer systems which will allow them to shut down Britain’s energy production at will”.

He wrote that MI5, which is involved in discussions about Hinkley Point, has concerns over China’s involvement in Britain’s power supply, and that China’s intelligence services “continue to work against UK interests at home and abroad”.

Under the terms of the deal with the British government, state-owned Chinese companies will own a 33.5 per cent stake in Hinkley Point and also have the opportunity to design and build a nuclear reactor in Essex.

Government insiders who spoke to The Telegraph raised the prospect of the British government pulling out of the deal in September.

Nick Timothy had written his blog post after Chinese president Xi’s visit to London last October. He wrote:

“Rational concerns about national security are being swept to one side because of the desperate desire for Chinese trade and investment. The Government seems intent on ignoring the evidence and presumably the advice of the security and intelligence agencies. But no amount of trade and investment should justify allowing a hostile state easy access to the country’s critical national infrastructure. Of course we should seek to trade with countries right across the world – but not when doing business comes at the expense of Britain’s own national security.”