The Government is facing calls from MPs to ban China and Russia from any involvement in supplying equipment to Britain’s armed forces. The Commons Defence Sub-committee said the widespread use of overseas firms in the UK defence supply chain left it open to “potentially hostile foreign involvement”. It said that China in particular had a record of large-scale intellectual property theft, raising concerns that any UK firm working alongside Chinese suppliers could have their technology stolen. Sub-committee head Richard Drax (PA) The committee urged ministers to draw up a list of “friendly” countries they were happy to see continuing to invest in the defence supply chain, while the rest should be barred.