Victor Zhang's intervention comes as Boris Johnson prepared on Monday to meet the Northern Research Group, the lobby group of Conservative MPs determined to turn the prime minister's levelling up agenda into a reality.

Zhang urged the UK to stay true to its roots as the birthplace of the first Industrial Revolution, saying the government could not afford to fall behind in the 5G revolution.

In July the UK government, after pressure from the Trump administration, reversed a plan to let Huawei be a controlled 5G supplier, and instead ordered Huawei equipment be stripped out of the country's 5G networks by 2027. Ministers at the time said the reversal was not caused by a new security services analysis of the security threat posed by Huawei, but by the Trump administration's decision to block US conductors being used by Huawei.

Zhang said: "The decision is going to have a huge economic impact on the UK.

The UK wants to see a balance of investment between London, the south-east, the Midlands and the north of England. World-class connectivity is crucial to this objective, and without that it is very difficult to close the gap in the economic imbalance in the UK."