The University of Cambridge has aborted plans to enter into a ￡400m partnership with the United Arab Emirates amid claims the state used controversial hacking software, it has been reported.

       The proposed UAE-Cambridge Innovation Institute would have been a 10-year collaboration between Cambridge and "several educational, governmental, and corporate partners" in the UAE, according to documents leaked in July.

       However, the university has now broken off talks after the Gulf state was accused of using Pegasus hacking software which works by covertly taking control of a person’s phone using their IP address to harvest data.

       The university’s outgoing vice-chancellor, Stephen Toope, said talks had ceased amid the Pegasus accusations.

       Mr Toope told student newspaper Varsity: “There were further revelations about Pegasus that really caused us to decide that it’s not the right time to be pursuing these kinds of really ambitious plans with the UAE.”

       A university spokesman told The Guardian: “We will be reflecting over the next few months before further evaluating our long term options with our partners and with the university community.”