UK Politics

NatWest faces 100 million cyber attacks attempting to breach its defences every month, MSPs have been told, as experts set out the “staggering” scale of digital crime.The bank also blocks around a third of emails coming into its system, Holyrood’s Criminal Justice Committee heard.Police and cyber crime agencies are increasingly dealing with fraudsters operating online, with gold scams and romance fraud becoming particularly prominent.The trend increased sharply during the pandemic – in 2020 Police Scotland recorded 7,710 cyber crimes, but in 2024 that increased to 18,280.Chris Ulliott, head of cybersecurity at NatWest, told the committee on Wednesday: “We analyse every single email coming into our estate, looking for malicious content.“About a third of the emails, millions a month, we actually block because they are believed to be the start of an attack against our staff.“If I look outside our network at the attacks that are probing our estate, we’re averaging about 100 million attacks per month just trying to break past the defences we have in the organisation”.He said this has led to a cybersecurity team with hundreds of staff and a budget of millions.Mr Ulliott said there is growing concern about fraudsters using artificial intelligence (AI) to make their approaches to people seem more credible.The technology could even be used to alter a fraudster’s appearance in a real-time online call to look like an “elderly British gent” to gain trust with a victim.Mr Ulliott said Scattered Spider, the group which may have been behind the recent attack on Marks & Spencer, is likely a loose international group in their teens and 20s who are sharing ideas on online forums.SNP MSP Rona Mackay said the numbers revealed by the NatWest official were “absolutely staggering”.Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Houston said law enforcement agencies around the world are collaborating to try and catch cyber criminals, with the FBI sharing intelligence on fraud and ransomware groups.Adam Stachura from the charity Age Scotland said many elderly people are not confident users of online technology.He said the impact of cyber crime can be devastating for the elderly, saying: “It can create financial destitution – that hit to confidence and self-worth.”David Keenan, chief information officer at Arnold Clark, discussed the serious cyber attack which crippled the car company’s network at the end of 2022.He said recovery was a months-long effort and the attack came despite the company having 12 staff dedicated to cybersecurity.The SNP’s Ben Macpherson said cyber crime is “the criminal justice issue of our time”.He said cyber criminals had even impersonated himself in order to contact constituents in Edinburgh Northern and Leith. More

Canada was “not impressed” by the King’s invitation to Donald Trump for an unprecedented second state visit to the UK, the country’s prime minister has said.Freshly elected leader Mark Carney said February’s invitation jarred with Canadians because it was delivered physically by Keir Starmer during an Oval Office press conference while Trump was challenging Canada’s sovereignty and suggesting America’s northern neighbour should become the 51st state of the US. The former British colony is also a key member of the Commonwealth and regards King Charles as its head of state.“I think, to be frank, they [Canadians] weren’t impressed by that gesture… given the circumstance,” Mr Carney told Sky News. “It was at a time when we were being quite clear about the issues around sovereignty.” Mr Carney, a former Bank of England governor, ran his election campaign on standing up to Mr Trump’s tariff plans and threats to make Canada a state of the US. He has reiterated to Trump that Canada will “never ever” become part of the US. A wave of anti-Trump sentiment in Canada in the wake of the US president’s comments about a takeover helped Mr Carney secure an unexpected victory. His party, the Liberals, won 168 seats out of 343 in Canada’s House of Commons. Sir Keir personally delivered the invitation during his White House visit in February More

Thousands of civil servants are set to be relocated outside of London as the government looks to reduce costs and “radically reform the state”.The move will see 12,000 civil service jobs shifted from the capital to new regional hubs, with 11 London office buildings slated for closure, including one of the government’s largest Westminster sites. The projected savings are estimated at £94 million annually by 2032.The major government shake-up, which is expected to provide a £729m boost for local economies, was first revealed exclusively by The Independent.Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, stated the government is committed to decentralising decision-making, moving it “closer to communities all across the UK.”Government departments are now tasked with submitting relocation plans for their staff, including senior officials, as part of the upcoming spending review. The deadline for these submissions is 11 June.This initiative will lead to the establishment of two major new ‘campuses’: one in Manchester focusing on digital innovation and artificial intelligence, and another in Aberdeen specialising in energy.The number of civil servants working in London will fall by 12,000 in the coming years as the Government seeks to relocate staff outside the capital (Yui Mok/PA) More

The equalities watchdog has been threatened with legal action after saying trans women must use men’s toilets,The Independent can reveal. The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)’s interim guidance was published in the wake of last month’s Supreme Court ruling on gender, which ruled trans women are not legally women under the Equalities Act. The guidance states that trans women “should not be permitted to use the women’s facilities” in workplaces or public-facing services such as shops and hospitals.EHRC chair Baroness Kishwer Falkner More