Key events
Reform holds on to seat in byelection
Jamie Grierson
Reform UK have held on to a seat on Cornwall council in a byelection after a turbulent time for the party in the county.
The result shows support remains for Nigel Farage’s party in Cornwall despite a flurry of resignations and suspensions as well as public infighting that many said undermined Reform’s authority in the county.
Reform’s Heinz Wolfgang Glanville was elected as the new member for St Columb Minor and Colan with 408 votes, beating independent candidate John Fitter with 325 votes.
The byelection was called after Reform UK member for the division, Christine Parsonage, resigned for medical reasons. She had come under heavy criticism for living more than 40 miles away from the division.
After May’s local elections, Reform had the most seats in the county but was unable to form an administration. However, following several resignations the party no longer holds that title and is now the second biggest party by seats on the council to the Liberal Democrats, who rule in a coalition with independents.
‘Not clear’ who was behind cyber-attack
Good morning.
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was hacked in October, according to trade minister Chris Bryant.
Details of the hack emerged on Friday in a report by the Sun that claimed a Chinese hacker group was behind the cyber-attack.
The Sun named Storm 1849 as the Chinese cyber gang responsible for the breach, which it said was understood to possibly include tens of thousands of visa details.
The group has been “accused of targeting politicians and groups critical of the Chinese government”, the newspaper said.
However, when asked if China was behind the attack, Bryant said: “That’s not entirely clear.”
“There certainly has been a hack at the FCDO and we’ve been aware of that since October,” Bryant told Sky News.
“Some of the reporting has, I think, been a bit more speculation than accurate.”
He added, “We’re fairly confident that there’s a low risk of any individual actually being affected by this.”
A government spokesperson told the Guardian: “We have been working to investigate a cyber incident. We take the security of our systems and data extremely seriously.”
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