Latest news with #SirRichardDearlove
The National
23-05-2025
- Business
- The National
Ex-MI6 boss warns UK net zero push is 'risk to national security'
A former head of British intelligence has criticised the UK government's climate change policies, warning that ideology was being put ahead of national security. Sir Richard Dearlove, who led MI6 from 1999 to 2004, said Energy Secretary Ed Miliband's drive to achieve net zero carbon emissions was 'crazy', 'irrational' and 'seriously problematic'. Mr Miliband has insisted the push to achieve net zero represents the 'economic opportunity of our time', as the UK pursues its mission to become a clean energy superpower by 2030. In March, he restarted climate talks with China during a visit to Beijing in which the two countries agreed to co-operate on green ambitions such as reducing climate-warming emissions. The UK hopes to work with China on emerging technology, including carbon capture and storage, while sharing its expertise on phasing out the use of coal. Mr Dearlove told The i Paper that he was not being alarmist, but had concerns over the risks of relying on Chinese technology such as chips used in electric cars and solar panels. It has been suggested that China would be able to include a 'kill switch' in such devices to corrupt them or make them inoperable. He supports the Coalition for Secure Technology, which campaigns to raise awareness of the risks associated with China's growing technological dominance. He took part in briefing with MPs this month to outline the potential threats to the UK, such as traffic lights being switched off or cars immobilised. He said he believes Mr Miliband is aware of the dangers, but thinks tackling climate change is a greater concern. 'Therefore we're going to pursue that to the exclusion of all other issues,' Mr Dearlove said. The solution, he believes, is boosting manufacturing in countries the UK trusts. 'The problem is that the Chinese have created a system of dependencies by massively subsidising these areas of their economy so that they hugely undercut the market competitors out of business,' he said. The UK has committed to delivering most of the country's energy through green sources by the end of the decade, which will require a major increase in offshore and onshore wind power, solar panels and the national grid. Mr Miliband bowed to pressure and is to ban the UK's national energy company from investing in projects linked to China, over claims of forced labour. A UK government spokesman said it would 'never let anything get in the way of our national security'.
Telegraph
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Miliband's ‘mad' net zero drive branded threat to national security
Ed Miliband's 'completely mad' net zero drive is a threat to national security, a former head of MI6 has warned. Sir Richard Dearlove said the Energy Secretary's push to achieve clean power by 2030 and net zero carbon emissions by 2050 risked playing into the hands of Beijing. China provides much of the renewable energy infrastructure needed to decarbonise Britain's energy grid. It is also the market leader for electric vehicle manufacturing. Sir Richard, who served as chief of the Secret Intelligence Service from 1999 until 2004, said Mr Miliband was pressing ahead with his green policies in an 'irrational' way. He told the i paper: ' The problem is you've got the ideological Ed Miliband pursuing zero carbon without a thought for the impact on national security. 'The whole policy is completely mad... He probably thinks: 'I'm dealing with a more serious problem, which is climate change, and that comes first.' It's so irrational. It is seriously problematic.' Fears around Chinese espionage have grown in the past couple of decades, and Chinese intelligence services are neither subject to independent oversight nor the rule of law. GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre previously warned that a Chinese state-affiliated actor was 'almost certainly responsible' for targeting MPs' and peers' emails in 2021. The Electoral Commission was subsequently compromised between 2021 and 2022, with GCHQ officials once again blaming an agent linked to the Chinese state. More recently, Christopher Cash, a parliamentary researcher, was charged with carrying out espionage work on behalf of China. But the Government insisted that Britain needs to co-operate with China despite national security warnings that followed a separate scandal in which it emerged Prince Andrew had formed a close business relationship with an alleged Chinese spy. Mr Miliband visited China in March for a three-day visit to discuss climate change and the net zero transition. The Energy Secretary believes it is important to engage with Beijing in the hope that it will take a leadership role on climate change despite a resurgence in its construction of new coal-fired power plants. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, has accused Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Miliband of making Britain 'dangerously dependent' on China through the 2050 zero emissions target. Mrs Badenoch used a major policy speech in March to note that the most prominent dozen makers of solar panels are nearly all Chinese. She added that most wind farms have been produced using Chinese energy. According to analysis by the Tories, more than 170,000 new jobs in China will be created by Mr Miliband's decisions to accelerate the net zero drive. Earlier this week, the heir to the JCB empire warned that Mr Miliband's race to embrace net zero was fuelling an exodus of jobs to China. Jo Bamford, the son of JCB founder Lord Bamford, said the Government should instead focus on becoming a leader in hydrogen to safeguard British jobs. A Government spokesman said: 'We would never let anything get in the way of our national security. Our energy sector is subject to the highest levels of national security scrutiny.'
Times
14-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Embedded Chinese tech ‘could freeze cars and traffic lights'
China could switch off Britain's traffic lights and 'immobilise London' because its companies control so much crucial technology in the UK, MPs have been warned. Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, and Charles Parton, a veteran diplomat, said that Chinese companies dominate the industry of microchips that are embedded in technology — known as 'the internet of things' (IoT). These are devices in objects such as appliances and vehicles that transmit and receive information through computer networks, known as Chinese-made cellular IoT modules (CIMs). They can be embedded in household items such as fridges, speakers and air fryers or physical infrastructure such as traffic light systems and electric cars in order to connect with other devices through the internet. At an event in parliament hosted by the Coalition on Secure Technology, Dearlove and Parton warned MPs that these 'gateways to computers' are everywhere and potentially can be accessed by their manufacturer at any time. Given that they are mostly owned by Chinese companies, they have obligations to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including to play a role in national security. Both Dearlove and Parton warned that this relationship could be exploited for the use of spying devices or to cause disruption. Parton, a former diplomat who spent 22 years working in China and is a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, pointed out that CIMs are in systems including routers and financial terminals. Possible scenarios included causing gridlock by using CIMs to 'turn off the traffic light system', according to a source at the briefing on Monday night. • Steel war shows extent of China's grip on UK's critical infrastructure Dearlove also warned about the potential for CIMs in energy infrastructure to shut down the national grid and cause blackouts. He said that Chinese-manufactured electric vehicles were basically computers on wheels that could be remotely reprogrammed at any time and suggested that there was the potential to 'immobilise London'. He also pointed out that the CCP wants to make China the world's leading superpower by the middle of the century and is intent on using non-military means to do so — making science and technology the 'battlefield'. The session was chaired by Graeme Downie, a Labour MP and chairman of the Coalition on Secure Technology. • Chinese-made electric cars in UK could be jammed remotely by Beijing Intelligence officials have repeatedly warned of the increased threat from Beijing, and a report last year said that China had infiltrated virtually every sector of the British economy. An economic security review carried out by parliament last year was told that electric vehicles could be controlled, adjusted and ultimately even stopped by manufacturers behind the CIMs could be exploited by China if its relationship with the UK badly deteriorated, according to a previous warning by Dearlove. Beijing, which has ambitious plans to expand sales of Chinese-made cars in Europe, could also use the cars to steal sensitive data from motorists.
The Sun
13-05-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
China has ‘secretly embedded microchips' across UK capable of bringing country to standstill, MPs warned
CHINA could bring Britain to a standstill by switching off traffic lights and freezing electric vehicles, MPs were warned. Beijing has secretly embedded microchips across UK infrastructure that could be weaponised to trigger blackouts, experts claimed at a private briefing in Parliament. 2 2 Ex-MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove and veteran diplomat Charles Parton told a dozen Labour MPs the threat lies in Chinese-made CIMs - control interface modules - which act as 'gateways to computers' and are already found in vehicles, routers and payment terminals. Mr Parton warned the Communist regime could use them to 'turn off the traffic light system' or remotely paralyse electric cars to block roads and cripple supply chains. Sir Richard added that Chinese electric vehicles were essentially 'computers on wheels' and could be reprogrammed at any moment - raising the alarming prospect they could be used to 'immobilise London'. The session, hosted by Labour MP and chair of the Coalition on Secure Technology Graeme Downie, focused on China's push to dominate the world through non-military means - using science and technology as its 'battlefield'.
