UK Politics

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

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailTory MP Scott Benton is quitting parliament almost a year after being embroiled in a lobbying sting. The Blackpool South MP has written to Jeremy Hunt with “a heavy heart” tendering his resignation, meaning Rishi Sunak faces another tricky by-election in the seat.His departure comes as a recall petition in his seat was ongoing, Benton having been suspended from the parliament after allegedly being caught offering to lobby ministers on behalf of gambling investors in exchange for money.Scott Benton was caught in a lobbying stingHe was expected to be recalled from parliament by his constituents and face a by-election in the seat, which he would have been likely to lose.Mr Benton won the seat, which had been held since 1997 by Labour, for the Tories under Boris Johnson in 2019. He had a narrow majority of just 3,690, and with the Conservatives currently trailing Labour in the national polls by 22 points, he was expected to lose the seat in a by-election later this year. His immediate resignation, rather than waiting for the recall petition to conclude next month, will bring forward the contest. In his statement, Mr Benton said: “It’s with a heavy heart that I have written to the Chancellor this morning to tender my resignation as your MP.“I have always sought to do what I believed to be in the best interests of Blackpool, and of our country. In 2019, I pledged to be an active, hardworking and relatable MP who would listen to your concerns and views and act upon them.“I’d like to think that I have more than succeeded in that aim.” The chancellor, Mr Hunt, confirmed he had appointed Mr Benton to be Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead under parliament’s arcane rules for MPs who want to quit. It is expected that the Blackpool South contest will take place on the same day as the local elections on 2 May. Scott Benton’s resignation is the latest headache for Rishi Sunak, who has faced a series of devastating by-election losses in the past year In February, Mr Benton was suspended from the House of Commons for 35 days after being found to have breached the rules. The House of Commons committee on standards found the MP had given the impression he was “corrupt” and “for sale” after he was secretly filmed saying he could table parliamentary questions and provide “behind the scenes” information for up to £4,000 a month.Mr Benton was prepared to leak market-sensitive information to an investment fund and ask parliamentary questions on its behalf, in breach of parliamentary lobbying rules, an undercover investigation for The Times found.He was caught on camera telling undercover reporters posing as investors how he was willing to take actions that would break Parliament’s lobbying rules.In a meeting in March 2023, Mr Benton described how he could support a fake investment fund, which he believed was set up by an Indian businessman looking to make investments in the UK betting and gaming sector, by attempting to water down proposed gambling reforms.Mr Benton also offered a “guarantee” to provide a copy of an upcoming gambling white paper to the business at least two days before publication, potentially allowing it to benefit from market-sensitive information.He also said he could table parliamentary written questions and said he had previously done it on behalf of a company.Mr Benton said he could offer “the direct ear of a minister who is actually going to make these decisions” and speak to them outside the Commons voting lobby.The MP agreed with a fee proposed by the reporters in the range of £2,000 to £4,000 a month for two days’ work.The contest in Mr Benton’s seat will be the latest challenge for Mr Sunak, who has faced a slew of brutal by-election defeats in the past year, including in Peter Bone’s former constituency of Wellingborough and Chris Skidmore’s old seat of Kingswood. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailChina state-affiliated cyber actors were behind the “malicious” targeting of parliamentarians and a cyber attack on the Electoral Commission, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has said.The UK’s cyber security agency, which is part of GCHQ, said it believes a China-backed group known as APT31 was responsible for a campaign of online spying against the email accounts of a group of MPs and peers critical of China.APT31 has previously been accused of targeting other government entities and political figures around the world, including attacks on the Finnish parliament and Norwegian government IT systems in recent years, as well as an attack on Microsoft Exchange servers in 2021.The malicious activities we have exposed today are indicative of a wider pattern of unacceptable behaviour we are seeing from China state-affiliated actors against the UK and around the worldPaul Chichester, NCSC The NCSC said it had also attributed the compromise of computer systems at the Electoral Commission between 2021 and 2022 to a Chinese-backed actor in a separate incident.The cyber security agency said the attack on the Electoral Commission was likely to have seen email data accessed and exfiltrated for use by the Chinese intelligence services.When the attack was made public last year, it was confirmed that the hackers had been able to access reference copies of the electoral registers, held by the commission for research purposes and to enable permissibility checks on political donations.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.But they did not include the details of those registered anonymously.The register for each year holds the details of around 40 million individuals, which were accessible to the hostile actors, although this includes people on the open registers, whose information is already in the public domain.The NCSC said it believed it was highly likely this data would be used by the Chinese intelligence services for large-scale espionage campaigns and to repress perceived critics of China in the UK.On the targeting of Members of Parliament, the NCSC said the cyber campaign against email accounts had been identified and successfully mitigated by Parliament’s own security department before any accounts could be compromised.It is vital that organisations and individuals involved in our democratic processes defend themselves in cyberspace and I urge them to follow and implement the NCSC’s advice to stay safe onlinePaul Chichester, NCSC Paul Chichester, NCSC director of operations, said: “The malicious activities we have exposed today are indicative of a wider pattern of unacceptable behaviour we are seeing from China state-affiliated actors against the UK and around the world.“The targeting of our democratic system is unacceptable and the NCSC will continue to call out cyber actors who pose a threat to the institutions and values that underpin our society.“It is vital that organisations and individuals involved in our democratic processes defend themselves in cyberspace and I urge them to follow and implement the NCSC’s advice to stay safe online.”The Electoral Commission said the attack “did not have an impact on the security of UK elections, and resilience has been strengthened since the attack”.As part of the response to the attacks, the NCSC said it had updated its guidance for political organisations with further advice on how to reduce the likelihood of cyber attacks.Al Lakhani, founder and chief executive of cyber security firm IDEE, said the Government needed to be more robust in its cyber security response.When it comes to something as important as national security, relying on outdated cybersecurity solutions that detect attacks, but stop short of preventing them, is nothing short of dangerousAl Lakhani, cyber security firm IDEE“International relations are built on good faith, mutual interests and a fair bit of give and take,” he said.“But these are all completely opposed to good cybersecurity practices, which must be built on zero trust.“The Government is blatantly tiptoeing around the issue, evidently paralysed by the fear of alienating global superpowers, but the result is compromised personal data and undermining confidence in electoral processes.“To avoid these awkward situations, the Government needs to find better ways of protecting its systems and data.“When it comes to something as important as national security, relying on outdated cybersecurity solutions that detect attacks, but stop short of preventing them, is nothing short of dangerous.“A general election is on the horizon, and the threat of international interference is huge.“So, I hope that lessons have been learnt from past breaches, that this marks a turning point in the UK’s cyber security preparedness, and that we move towards a digitally secure future rooted in identity proofing and transitive trust.” More