UK prime minister Boris Johnson says he is against “undue influence by potentially adversarial countries” in national infrastructure such as the planned Sizewell C nuclear power station, but does not want to exclude all Chinese investment from the country.

When asked in parliament about China's state-owned energy company's role in planned reactor construction at Sizewell C – and how they will be removed from the nuclear project amid concerns over national security – Mr Johnson avoided details, but said “we don’t want to see undue influence by potentially adversarial countries in our critical national infrastructure and so that’s why we have taken the decisions we have”.

He added: “What I don’t want to do is pitchfork away wantonly all Chinese investment in this country or minimise the importance in this country of having a trading relationship with China.”