Markus Andrews

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailFuneral directors need to subject themselves to voluntary checks in order to ensure the public trust them, ministers have heard.Labour MP Emma Hardy called on the Government to introduce a regulator of funeral directors, following a major police investigation in her Hull West and Hessle constituency.Justice Minister Mike Freer said he is soon to meet funeral company trade bodies to discuss voluntary regulation, and told MPs he believes a “comprehensive review” of the law around cremation is needed.Legacy Independent Funeral Directors has been under investigation after police recovered 35 bodies, as well as suspected human ashes, at its site in Hessle Road in Hull.More than 1,500 calls have been made to police by previous Legacy Independent Funeral Directors customers since the probe began, Humberside Police have said.Police previously arrested a 46-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman on suspicion of prevention of a lawful and decent burial, fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position.The pair have been released on bail pending further inquiries.Labour MP Emma Hardy (PA)In the Commons, Ms Hardy said she is “utterly committed to regulating this industry and never again allowing that appalling, heartbreaking situation to be repeated”.She added: “I wondered if (the minister) could speak a little bit more about timeframes and whether he agrees that, in the meantime, before statutory regulation comes in, if we could encourage all funeral directors to subject themselves to the voluntary regulation provided by one of the trade bodies instead, and do everything they can to reassure the public that not all funeral directors are like the appalling situation that we have had in my constituency?”Justice minister Mr Freer said he is working alongside communities minister Simon Hoare on the initial response to the incident in Hull.He added: “The call for evidence on where we go on regulation will commence in the next few months. Where it goes, of course, we have to wait for public consultation.“What I am doing is meeting this afternoon with the two major trade bodies to see how they can assist on voluntary inspections to ensure that what we have seen has come out of this terrible incident – which nobody would have thought could have possibly would have occurred, is quite horrific – is that we get this right so that people do have confidence in the vast majority of funeral directors who are entirely respectable and treat the deceased with the respect and with the care that they expect.”Mr Freer earlier told the Commons that regulations on cremation have been “updated when needed” in the past, adding: “In light of developments since then, I believe a more comprehensive review is needed, and that is why the Law Commission have therefore agreed to consider the law governing cremation as part of their burial, cremation and new funerary methods project.“That has already commenced and we await their findings with interest.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe UK and the United States have accused China of a global campaign of “malicious” cyber attacks in an unprecedented joint operation to reveal Beijing’s espionage.Britain has publicly blamed China for targeting the Electoral Commission watchdog and for being behind a campaign of online “reconnaissance” aimed at the email accounts of MPs and peers.Chinese spies are likely to use the stolen details to target dissidents and critics of Xi Jinping’s government in the UK, British intelligence services believe.US officials said the APT31 hacking group spent more than a decade targeting the sensitive data of politicians, journalists, academics, dissidents and American companies.The “prolific global hacking operation”, backed by the Chinese government, sought to “repress critics of the Chinese regime, compromise government institutions, and steal trade secrets,” US deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco said.The hackers sent more than 10,000 “malicious” emails to the targets to gain access to personal information, US prosecutors said, adding the criminals threatened to “undermine democracies and threaten our national security”.The US charged seven of the alleged Chinese hackers on Monday.The UK said Beijing-linked hackers were behind the attack on the Electoral Commission which exposed the personal data of 40 million voters, as well as 43 individuals including MPs and peers.A front company, Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company, and two individuals, Zhao Guangzong and Ni Gaobin, linked to the APT31 hacking group were sanctioned in response to the hacks.However, some of the MPs targeted by Beijing said the response did not go far enough.They urged the Government to toughen its stance on China by labelling it a “threat” to national security rather than an “epoch-defining challenge”, and to put China in the “enhanced” tier under the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.Conservative former minister Tim Loughton told Sky News: “We’re going to sanction two people, two pretty lowly officials, and one private company, which employs 50 people. That is just not good enough.”Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, who announced the measures in a Commons statement, appeared to suggest China could soon be declared a “threat”.He told MPs that “we are currently in the process of collective Government agreement” over the matter, and that “clearly the conduct I have described today will have a very strong bearing on the decision that we make”.Cabinet tensions have reportedly surfaced over the issue, with some ministers pushing for tougher action on Beijing while others are resistant over concerns it could harm economic and trade relations.Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said the actions were “completely unacceptable” and he had raised the issue with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.The Chinese ambassador has also been summoned to the Foreign Office to account for his country’s actions.The Electoral Commission attack was identified in October 2022 but the hackers had been able to access the commission’s systems containing the details of tens of millions of voters for more than a year by that point.The registers held at the time of the cyber attack include the name and address of anyone in the UK who was registered to vote between 2014 and 2022, as well as the names of those registered as overseas voters.The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of GCHQ, said it was likely that Chinese state-affiliated hackers stole emails and data from the electoral register.This, in combination with other data sources, was highly likely to have been used by Beijing’s intelligence services for large-scale espionage and transnational repression of perceived dissidents and critics based in the UK.There is no suggestion the hack had any impact on the largely paper-based UK electoral system.Mr Dowden insisted the local elections in May and the general election later this year would be safe from Chinese cyber attacks.He told the PA news agency: “Yes, I can guarantee that our electoral processes will be safe and secure.”The UK acted with support from allies in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partnership, which also includes the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in identifying the Chinese-linked cyber campaigns.The Chinese government strongly denied that it had carried out, supported or encouraged cyber attacks on the UK, describing the claims as “completely fabricated and malicious slanders”.A spokesperson for China’s embassy in London said: “China has always firmly fought all forms of cyber attacks according to law.“China does not encourage, support or condone cyber attacks.“At the same time, we oppose the politicisation of cyber security issues and the baseless denigration of other countries without factual evidence.“We urge the relevant parties to stop spreading false information and stop their self-staged, anti-China political farce.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailOliver Dowden said he could guarantee the elections this year would be safe from Chinese cyber attacks and insisted UK national security would not be put at risk by Chinese-made smart vehicles.The Deputy Prime Minister said the local elections in May and the general election later in 2024 “will be safe and secure”, after earlier formally blaming Beijing for an attack on the Electoral Commission which exposed the personal data of 40 million voters.In a statement to the House of Commons, he announced sanctions on two people and an entity associated with Chinese state-linked hacking group APT31.I can guarantee that our electoral processes will be safe and secureOliver DowdenSpeaking to the PA news agency later on Monday, he expressed confidence the electoral process would be safe from Chinese espionage.Mr Dowden said: “Yes, I can guarantee that our electoral processes will be safe and secure.“That is not to say there isn’t an increasingly hostile landscape against which all elections around the world are being conducted.”He added that “it’s precisely because we’re in this year of elections when we face this heightened risk from malign actors” such as China, acting in co-operation with states including Russia, Iran and North Korea, that it is important that “nations that believe in democracy, openness, the rule of law stand together”.Pressed on why the action was only being taken now, when the Electoral Commission attack was identified in October 2022, the Deputy Prime Minister said it was important to have “a robust evidence base” and a “united and concerted front” with the United States.The UK’s increased pressure on China came amid similar action from the US, which indicted several Chinese individuals accused of malicious cyber operations on Monday.US President Joe Biden, citing possible national security risks, recently announced an investigation into Chinese-made smart cars that can gather sensitive information about Americans driving them.Mr Dowden, asked whether the UK has similar concerns, insisted the Government would ensure Chinese connected vehicles were secure.“We’ll make sure that we protect the security of our transport infrastructure,” he said.“And of course, any new technology requires approval from safety authorities.“And I know that the Secretary of State for Transport will ensure that any new technology that’s deployed on our roads is protected and secure.”The minister also said the UK kept all decisions on Chinese nuclear investment “under review”, amid fresh concerns about Bradwell B, the proposed nuclear power station at Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex, put forward by China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN).Mr Dowden said: “Of course we keep all these decisions under review.“But I believe that we’ve reached a sensible place in relation to this and working across Government and with our intelligence community, we’ll make sure that any nuclear investments are safe and secure.” More