EVs could be hijacked by hostile states like China to spy on the UK, minister warns

Hostile states could make electric intelligence-gathering cars to monitor Britons, ministers have warned.

The engines could be hijacked by countries like China to maintain control over the public as pressure grows to reduce their influence.

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Tom Tugendhat, the Home Secretary, insists that more work is needed to remove communist state-produced technology from the police and security services.

The Minister for Security doubled down on saying that “digital asbestos” could be found in Whitehall and institutions.

His intervention came as he came under scrutiny in the House of Commons over the communist state supplying CCTV equipment, body cameras and drones here.

Speaking to MPs, he warned of “the potential that some electric vehicles could easily be turned into mobile intelligence-gathering platforms by hostile states”.

He was investigated by his Labor counterpart, Dan Jarvis, who raised that our police and security services were “technologically vulnerable”, following comments from the Biometrics and Surveillance Commissioner.

Responding to the question, Tugendhat said: “This is something that is ongoing, so it has already left the most secure sites.

“But there are other areas where there is work to do because, of course, there have been a huge number of sites, I’m afraid, that have bought technology that will now be problematic. Of course, it’s not just about static websites.

“There is, of course, the potential that some electric vehicles could easily be turned into mobile intelligence-gathering platforms by hostile states, and so it’s not just about looking to the past, but also to the future.”

This comes after ministers decided to ban Huawei technology from all public 5G networks by the end of 2027.

Britain has decided to ban Chinese company Huawei and other high-security risk companies from its 5G network after pressure from the United States.

Huawei rejected concerns from Washington DC and key allies about its operations, saying the company was “politically motivated and not based on a fair assessment of risks”.