Security minister Dan Jarvis has said the government will not tolerate “covert and calculated” attempts to interfere with the UK’s sovereign affairs, after MI5 warned MPs of the risk from Chinese spies.An alert issued to MPs, peers and parliamentary staff by security services identified two LinkedIn profiles, which it says are used on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).It says they act as “civilian recruitment headhunters”, targeting individuals working in British politics to solicit “insider insights”.Jarvis announced a package of measures in the House of Commons to tackle espionage threats to the UK.These included £170m to upgrade encrypted technology for government business, as well as new protections against Chinese cybercrime and attempts to influence UK university research.Jarvis told MPs: “Our intelligence agencies have warned that China is attempting to recruit and cultivate individuals with access to sensitive information about Parliament and the UK government.”He added: “This activity involves a covert and calculated attempt by a foreign power to interfere with our sovereign affairs in favour of its own interests, and this government will not tolerate it.”Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and his counterpart in the House of Lords, Lord McFall, circulated the MI5 warning to MPs and peers on Tuesday.Writing to MPs, Sir Lindsay said Chinese state actors were “relentless” in trying to “interfere with our processes and influence activity at Parliament”.He said the Chinese MSS was “actively reaching out to individuals in our community”, and that they wanted to “collect information and lay the groundwork for long-term relatio …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnSecurity minister Dan Jarvis has said the government will not tolerate “covert and calculated” attempts to interfere with the UK’s sovereign affairs, after MI5 warned MPs of the risk from Chinese spies.An alert issued to MPs, peers and parliamentary staff by security services identified two LinkedIn profiles, which it says are used on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).It says they act as “civilian recruitment headhunters”, targeting individuals working in British politics to solicit “insider insights”.Jarvis announced a package of measures in the House of Commons to tackle espionage threats to the UK.These included £170m to upgrade encrypted technology for government business, as well as new protections against Chinese cybercrime and attempts to influence UK university research.Jarvis told MPs: “Our intelligence agencies have warned that China is attempting to recruit and cultivate individuals with access to sensitive information about Parliament and the UK government.”He added: “This activity involves a covert and calculated attempt by a foreign power to interfere with our sovereign affairs in favour of its own interests, and this government will not tolerate it.”Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and his counterpart in the House of Lords, Lord McFall, circulated the MI5 warning to MPs and peers on Tuesday.Writing to MPs, Sir Lindsay said Chinese state actors were “relentless” in trying to “interfere with our processes and influence activity at Parliament”.He said the Chinese MSS was “actively reaching out to individuals in our community”, and that they wanted to “collect information and lay the groundwork for long-term relatio …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
