One of the UK’s most senior intelligence chiefs has said he is confident British cyber security authorities can manage any risk posed by the Chinese telecoms group Huawei if ministers decide to give the company the go-ahead to get involved in future 5G networks.

In a speech in Brussels, Ciaran Martin, the chief executive of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, part of signals intelligence agency GCHQ, said that despite concerns over espionage and disruption raised by US intelligence, he believed that strict controls and oversight could offset the risks.

“Our job is to make sure that the government can be confident that behind whatever decision it takes, there will be a technical framework that works and a competent national authority that knows what it is doing,” Mr Martin told the CyberSec conference.