Cabinet minister Oliver Dowden has reviewed "current and future possible security risks associated with the installation of visual surveillance systems on the government estate" and decided more controls are required.

Government departments have been using Chinese cameras because they are cheap and work pretty well.

However, Dowden has now instructed them to cease deployment of such equipment onto sensitive sites, as security considerations are always paramount around these sites, we are taking action now to prevent any security risks from materialising.

The directive applies to cameras that are made by companies subject to Chinese security laws. The directives ask departments to disconnect such devices from core computer networks and to consider removing them altogether.

There is a list of Chinese camera equipment companies considered naughty in the sight of his Majesties government including Hikvision and Dahua, which are partly state-owned Chinese firms.

Hikvision denied the claims, saying that it will seek to engage with the British authorities to understand what the UK is going on about.

A company spokesperson said: "Hikvision cannot transmit data from end-users to third parties, we do not manage end-user databases, nor do we sell cloud storage in the UK".

However, part of the problem is that Hikvision cameras were used inside the Department of Health and Social Care, which raised security concerns when a leaked CCTV footage showed the then health secretary Matt Hancock snogging an aide.