On the advice of Mk375 I bought these gaskets from my local Mazda dealership, using the part number he gave me. £12 a pair. The dealership were somewhat surprised at my request! I think they got them from Belgium. I had changed shocks and not put the original gaskets back. This resulted in what could best be described as a creaking noise. The gasket is specifically designed to stop this and it worked an absolute treat. However, if your suspension has never been off and therefore the gaskets are there, it’s unlikely to be the cause
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Have you had a look yourself at the springs? All of the Mx5s i’ve had have at some point had a snapped spring (usually the passenger front in my case) and that gives a weird noise as you§ve described. You’d also hear it on a full lock turn. Worth a close look. A decent MOT place will pick up on it of course which is how I found my last one had snapped.
Just to update everyone. The problem seems to be solved! I haven’t been able to drive it much but speed bumps that previously caused the loud squeak no longer do, even when the car is cold.
This solution was to replace the droplinks as first suggested by @Lightweight Thank you so much for your remote diagnosis! The garage wouldn’t have done this (at least not before needlessly replacing the upper suspension arm) if I hadn’t specifically told them what I’d found on here. Replaced the drop links on both sides and the squeak is no more. Very pleased.
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Just replying to your message so you see that my squeak was indeed resolved by new drop links.
Thanks for the follow-up, it all adds to the collective knowledge 
Glad your problem is solved and it’s really good to know what it is that solved it.
Cheers for the update Dan and glad it did the trick. Happy squeak free motoring !
Funnily enough, my NC 3.5 has started doing this on speed bumps (loads of the damn things at work…), so will be ordering a set from MX5Parts.
Cheers guys.
Rick.