Huawei could be excluded from Germany’s 5G network following a backbench rebellion against Angela Merkel.

In a blow to the German chancellor’s authority, backbenchers from her own party and her main coalition partners have united to block the controversial Chinese telecommunications company from the project.

Mrs Merkel has so far defied US pressure to exclude Huawei from the project. The Trump administration accuses the Chinese government of using the company’s technology to spy on the US and its allies.

But Mrs Merkel says Germany’s intelligence services can secure the network and has insisted companies be considered on their technical expertise alone.

She was already facing opposition from her Christian Democrat party (CDU), which voted at its party conference to exclude any company that might be a security risk.

Now CDU backbenchers have gone further, uniting with colleagues from the centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD) to draft a parliamentary motion calling on the government to exclude all companies from countries that pose a risk.