A reader asks:

How serious is the hack on the Electoral Commission website, since the electoral register is publicly available? If those who have their addresses left off the public register have had their details accessed that is different. Do you know the details?

This what the Electoral Commission said itself about the seriousness of the hack in a Q&A published last year.

We know it can be troubling to hear that your data may have been accessed. We regret that sufficient protections were not in place to prevent this cyber-attack and apologise to those affected.

The data contained in the electoral registers is limited, and much of it is already in the public domain. According to the risk assessment used by the Information Commissioner’s Office to assess the harm of data breaches, the personal data held on electoral registers, typically name and address, does not in itself present a high risk to individuals.

It is possible however that this data could be combined with other data in the public domain, such as that which individuals choose to share themselves, to infer patterns of behaviour or to identify and profile individuals.

The commission said that details of people whose names are not on the register, because they register to vote anonymously, were not accessed during the cyber-attack.

The Home Office has launched a social media advertising campaign aimed at discouraging people in Vietnam from trying to enter the UK illegally on small boats. In a news release the Home Office explains:

Using real testimonies from those who regret coming to the UK illegally, the adverts highlight the risks and consequences people face if they turn to criminal gangs and attempt the dangerous journey.

A migrant, referred to as K, shares his reality of sleeping in a camp in Calais for 5 nights under the supervision of armed guards, before taking the long journey across the Channel to the UK. He says: “Never again would I risk my life in a small boat, even if you bribed me.”

An increasing proportion of small boat migrants are Vietnamese, and they are 1 of the top 10 nationalities for migrants crossing the Channel illegally.

The latest phase of the campaign, which will begin today, will harness social media adverts on Facebook and YouTube to directly target people who may be considering making dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK …

The campaign warns prospective migrants of the reality of living in the UK illegally with no right to be in the UK and no access to public services or funding.

It includes testimonies from Home Office Immigration Enforcement and Border Force officers, who all too often encounter illegal migrants who have been sold into modern slavery or illegal working by their smugglers.

The Home Office claims a similar social media campaign in Albania contributed to 90% reduction in small boat arrivals from Albania last year.

Jo Stevens is joining Keir Starmer on Anglesey today on a visit to promote Labour’s clean energy mission. Vaughan Gething, the new first minister of Wales, and Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary for climate change and net zero are also there, and they are announcing that Great British Energy, the new, state-owned energy company that Labour plans to set up, will make a significant investment in floating offshore wind. Labour says this announcement “marks the first major investment commitment that Great British Energy will make once established by an incoming UK Labour government”.

In a news release issued overnight, Labour says:

Wales has the potential to be a world leader in the development of new floating offshore wind technology, which a recent government-backed taskforce says could unlock up to £43bn of GVA [gross value added – a measure of economic growth] to the UK economy and create around 30,000 jobs by 2050.

However, in recent years, floating offshore wind in Wales has been let down by a lack of support from the UK government. Not a single floating offshore wind project was successful at the government’s last failed renewables auction. The Port of Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, saw its bid to act as a hub for developing offshore wind technology short-sightedly rejected by the government …

Ministers have the opportunity to unlock investment in three floating wind farms this year, in Scotland, north England and the Celtic Sea. But research from RenewableUK has found that budget restrictions will likely mean only one of these projects will go ahead, stifling investment in the emerging sector that would lead to new jobs as well as cheaper bills.

And Keir Starmer said:

In an increasingly insecure world, with tyrants using energy as an economic weapon, Britain must take back control of our national energy security. After fourteen years of a Tory government kowtowing to fossil fuel dictators, Labour’s plan for energy independence would get Putin’s boot off our throat and power up communities across Britain.

Labour and the Tories are both claiming the other party is making Britain dependent on Vladimir Putin for energy. Tories justify this on the grounds that Labour has ruled out approving further drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea once its in power. Labour defends its claim on the basis that the Tories have been dragging their feet on renewable energy.

In his interview on the Today programme this morning, Luke de Pulford, the executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac), also said that the UK government had been slow to blame China for cyber-attacks on MPs, and on British institutions more generally. Peter Walker has the details here.

Good morning. Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are both far away from Westminster this morning. Sunak is in Barrow-in-Furness, promoting a £200m investment in nuclear submarines, and Starmer is on Anglesey, promoting Labour’s plans for offshore wind. In London it looks as if the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, will be grabbing the headlines. He is making a statement to MPs about Chinese cyber-attacks on the UK and, as the Sun reports, he is expected to blame Beijing for a hack on the Electoral Commission’s network that meant details of 40 million voters were accessible.

Cash Boyle has details here.

Dowden is expected to announce new sanctions against some Chinese officials. But it remains to be seen whether this will be enough for the China hawk faction in his party, some of whom are understood to have been personally targeted by Chinese hackers.

In an interview on the Today programme this morning Luke de Pulford, director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac), said that he wanted the government to use powers under the National Security Act 2023 to label China as a particular risk. He explained:

[The act] has two categories of countries in it: countries in the enhanced sphere [those that pose a higher risk] and countries in the political tier. Ludicrously there’s still a debate over whether or not China will be in the enhanced tier. I know that some within government wants China to be labelled as that enhanced tier. That should certainly happen.

Being in the enhanced tier would mean groups or individuals acting on behalf of China in the UK would be subject to tighter controls. There are more details here.

Simon Clarke, the former levelling up secretary, posted a message on X this morning saying it was time for Britain to “end our naivety on China”.

We have to end our naivety on China. Every time we talk about a reset, there is fresh evidence of malign activity. Hong Kong. The Uighurs. Taiwan. Attacking our democracy. If we blame ourselves for not seeing Putin’s true nature, why make the same mistake with Xi?

Giving interviews this morning, Andrew Bowie, the energy minister, implied Clarke was pushing at an open door. He claimed the government would “stop at nothing” to protect people from cyber attacks. He told LBC:

The fact is that this government has invested a lot of time, money and effort in ensuring that our cybersecurity capabilities are at the place they need to be, we’ve increased the powers of our intelligence and security community to be able to deal with these threats.

And we will stop at nothing to ensure that the British people, our democracy, our freedom of speech and our way of life is defended.

But Bowie is not the minister in charge. We will have to wait until Dowden addresses the Commons before we learn exactly how robust the government’s response will be.

Here is the agenda for the day.

Morning: Rishi Sunak is on a visit in Barrow-in-Furness, where he will record a pooled TV interview.

Morning: Keir Starmer is on a visit on Anglesey with Vaughan Gething, the new Welsh first minister, where they will highlight Labour’s plans for offshore wind and give interviews.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

Lunchtime: Four parliamentarians – the MPs Iain Duncan Smith, Tim Loughton and Stewart McDonald, and the peer David Alton – are getting a briefing from a parliamentary security official about Chinese efforts to hack their emails. They are expected to hold a press conference afterwards.

2.30pm: Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

After 3.30pm: Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, makes a statement to MPs about cyber-attacks against the UK from China.

4.30pm: Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, gives evidence to the Commons health committee.

5pm: David Cameron, the foreign secretary, speaks to Tory MPs at the 1922 Committee.

If you want to contact me, do use the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a laptop or a desktop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting, too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line; privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate); or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.