Friday newspaper round-up: Huawei, Ford, Renault-Fiat

China’s Huawei Technologies needs to raise its “shoddy” security standards which fall below rivals, a senior British cyber security official said on Thursday, as the company came under increasing pressure internationally. The US has led allegations that Huawei’s equipment can be used by Beijing for espionage operations, with Washington urging allies to bar the companyfrom 5G networks. – Guardian

The government official in charge of delivering “frictionless” Brexit border arrangements, including emergency plans for Dover and Ireland in the event of no deal, has quit just two years into her job. Karen Wheeler, director general of Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs Brexitborder delivery group, was the lead official coordinating a cross-Whitehall response involving police, ports, customs and freight interests. - Guardian

Matt Hancock has vowed to "level the playing field" for high streets by scrapping business rates for small retailers while hitting tech giants with the new Amazon tax. The Health Secretary has announced the £1.5 billion-a-year pledge, which would exempt hundreds of thousands of businesses from the levy, as part of his leadership campaign. – Telegraph

Ford will move its petrol engine production out of Britain to the low-cost economy of Mexico and close its factory in Bridgend, meaning that all 1,700 workers in south Wales will be laid off within 18 months. The American carmaker also conceded yesterday that a no-deal Brexit could yet put another 6,000 British production and development jobs at risk in Essex, east London and Merseyside. – The Times

France appeared to be keen to revive a projected merger between Renault and Fiat Chrysler yesterday after the Italian-American carmaker broke off talks, blaming interference by the Macron administration. Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, voiced dismay at Fiat Chrysler’s midnight walkout from talks with Renault and insisted that the French government, which holds 15 per cent of Renault, remained keen on a partnership that would create the world’s third biggest carmaker behind Japan’s Toyota and Germany’s Volkswagen. – The Times