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Labour calls for action over NHS cyber-attack

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, has today written to Jeremy Hunt condemning “the cyber criminals whose flagrant disregard for our health service has placed patient wellbeing at risk”.

Jonathan Ashworth said:

“The incident highlights the risk to data security within our modern health service and reinforces the need for cyber security to be at the heart of government planning.

“As Secretary of State, I urge you to publicly outline the immediate steps you’ll be taking to significantly improve cyber security in our NHS. The public has a right to know exactly what the Government will do to ensure that such an attack is never repeated again.”

The letter from Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, calls on the Government to set out:

·         Why NHS organisations failed to act on a critical note from Microsoft two months ago?

·         What additional resources are being given to the NHS to bring the situation under control as soon as possible?

·         What arrangements are currently in place to protect our NHS, and its sensitive data, against cyber-attacks?

·         Whether the Government will launch a full, independent inquiry into the events of yesterday?

·         Reassurance for patients that no patient data has been accessed or compromised in yesterday’s attack?

Ends

Notes to editors:

·         Please see below for full text of the letter:

Dear Secretary of State,

I am writing to ask for urgent clarification regarding yesterday’s major ransomware attack on our NHS. I hope you’ll join me in condemning the actions of the cyber criminals whose flagrant disregard for our health service has placed patient wellbeing at risk.

As you know, the attack has had a serious impact on services, with some hospitals diverting emergency ambulances and cancelling elective operations. A large range of IT services have been affected, including pathology test results, x-ray imaging systems, phone and bleep systems, and patient administration systems.

In total more than a third of NHS Trusts have been impacted, and NHS England has consequently declared a Major Incident. This is terrible news and a real worry for vulnerable patients and our hardworking staff.

The incident highlights the risk to data security within our modern health service and reinforces the need for cyber security to be at the heart of government planning.

As Secretary of State, I therefore urge you to publicly outline the immediate steps you’ll be taking to significantly improve cyber security in our NHS. The public has a right to know exactly what the Government will do to ensure that such an attack is never repeated again.

However, this is not the first time NHS Trusts have been attacked. In February, Freedom of Information Requests found that 79 English Trusts, more than 33 per cent, had suffered ransomware attacks since June 2015.[1]

For example, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust was attacked 19 times in 2016, and the Leeds Teaching Hospital faced five attacks in the past year.[2] In November, a major ransomware attack on the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Trust affected three hospitals, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of routine operations and outpatient appointments.[3]

As recently as in January, the largest NHS Trust in England, Barts Health Trust, was infected with a ransomware virus affecting thousands of sensitive files.[4]

I am therefore extremely concerned that extensive warning signs appear to have been ignored by yourself and your department.

Moreover, your own colleague Ben Gummer, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, warned in October that “large quantities of sensitive data” held by the NHS and the Government were being targeted by hackers, with the potential for significant disruption.[5]

Speaking about the threat to the health service, Mr Gummer stated: “The Government has a clear responsibility to ensure its own systems are cyber secure. We hold and the rest of the public sector- including the NHS- hold large quantities of sensitive data and provide online services relied on by the whole country.”[6]

Furthermore, in March a joint report from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the National Crime Agency (NCA) warned that cyber-criminals could increasingly lock computers, phones and watches to run cyber extortion and blackmail rackets.

At the time, Ian Levy, technical director of the NCSC, warned that the best defence against ransomware was to ensure software on devices was up to date.[7]

However, it appears that many of those hospitals affected by yesterday’s attack had not updated their Windows operating systems to include a security patch. This unacceptable cybersecurity neglect has clearly made the NHS extremely vulnerable to an attack.

NHS Trusts have been running thousands of outdated and unsupported Windows XP machines despite the Government ending its annual £5.5 million deal with Microsoft, which provided ongoing security support for Windows XP, in May 2015.[8]

It effectively means that unless individual Trusts were willing to pay Microsoft for an extended support deal, since May 2015 their Operating Systems have been extremely vulnerable to being hacked.

Given your Government’s sustained underfunding of our NHS it is of little surprise that many Trusts have reported taking minimum action. Indeed, research through previous FOIs has found that at least seven NHS Trusts, which treat more than two million Britons, spent nothing at all on cyber security infrastructure in 2015.[9]

This is extremely serious and as Shadow Secretary of State of Health I share the public’s concern at these revelations.

Yesterday’s attack is unprecedented in scale, but it is abundantly clear that our NHS should have been better prepared for ransomware attacks.

Therefore, will you firstly explain why NHS organisations failed to act on a critical note from Microsoft two months ago?

Secondly, what additional resources are you giving the NHS to bring the situation under control as soon as possible?

Moreover, will you clarify publicly what arrangements are currently in place to protect our NHS, and its sensitive data, against cyber-attacks? Will you ensure that every single NHS organisation receives an on-site assessment from CareCERT to improve security?

Will you additionally launch a full, independent inquiry into the events of yesterday?

Finally, will you reassure patients that no patient data has been accessed or compromised in yesterday’s attack?

Secretary of State, the prevalence and sophistication of cyber-attacks on our NHS is only set to increase. I therefore urge you to take immediate action so that a crisis on this scale is never repeated again.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Ashworth

Shadow Secretary of State for Health

[1] https://www.ft.com/content/e96924f0-3722-11e7-99bd-13beb0903fa3

[2] https://www.ft.com/content/b9abf11e-e945-11e6-967b-c88452263daf

[3] https://www.ft.com/content/b9abf11e-e945-11e6-967b-c88452263daf

[4] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/13/largest-nhs-trust-hit-cyber-attack/

[5] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/31/nhs-at-risk-of-cyber-attacks-minister-says-as-he-warns-hackers-a/

[6] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/31/nhs-at-risk-of-cyber-attacks-minister-says-as-he-warns-hackers-a/

[7] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/14/smartphones-tvs-watches-could-held-ransom-hackers-cyber-security/

[8] http://www.silicon.co.uk/security/nhs-hospitals-data-risk-outdated-windows-xp-201761

[9] https://www.ft.com/content/b9abf11e-e945-11e6-967b-c88452263daf

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This cyber-attack is terrible news and a real worry for patients – Jonathan Ashworth

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, commenting on reports that NHS England has been hit by a cyber-attack, said:

“This cyber-attack is terrible news and a real worry for patients. Our hard-working NHS staff are already operating under unprecedented pressure and should be given every support to help the public in the face of these malicious and disturbing actions.

“This incident highlights the risk to data security within the modern health service and reinforces the need for cyber security to be at the heart of government planning. The digital revolution has transformed the way we live and work but we have to be ready for the vulnerabilities it brings too.  

“The Government need to be clear about what’s happened, and what measures they are taking to reduce the threat to patients. The safety of the public must be the priority and the NHS should be given every resource to bring the situation under control as soon as possible.“

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John McDonnell at Fire Brigades Union conference

John McDonnell, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, speaking at the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) conference today in Blackpool, will say:

“I’m delighted to be speaking here today after the FBU took the historic decision to re-affiliate to the Labour Party after Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader.

“Over the next four weeks of campaigning in this General Election, Labour candidates will proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with our firefighters who dedicate their lives to keeping the British public safe.

“It is also ‘National nurses day’ today, and we know how little Theresa May appreciates them, along with other public sector workers. When she is not reducing their numbers, she is holding down their pay as prices rise.

“The situation has got so bad in our country under the Tories that nurses, and I am sure some of your members, are reliant on foodbanks.

“And what is Theresa May’s response when asked about this?

“She dismisses it as a ‘complex’ issue, and refuses to do anything about it.

“That is the difference between a Labour Prime Minister and a Tory Prime Minister.

“We know it is not a ‘complex’ issue for why people use foodbanks, it’s because they cannot afford to buy food.

“It’s because the Tories are letting public sector pay fall behind prices.

“That is why I can I give you this promise today, if a Labour Government is elected next month, then we will end the public sector pay freeze, and we will protect our fire and rescue services by ending the reckless and dangerous Tory cuts, which are a risk to communities up and down this country.

“The Conservatives have cut fire services’ budgets in England by 17 per cent since 2010. These reckless cuts are putting the British public and our firefighters in danger.

“On the economy there is no hiding from the truth. The Conservatives’ failed economic plan is holding Britain back, undermining our economy and threatening working people’s living standards.

“This week we’ve seen that only Greece, Italy and Austria are forecast to suffer bigger falls in real wages by the end of 2018, according to the TUC. And the Bank of England says that the economy is falling back, and wages will not keep up with prices.

“Real wages haven’t risen since the Tories came to power in 2010. And the UK is the only country which has had GDP growing but wages falling in the last decade.

“After seven years of Tory economic failure, it is working people in our country who are being made to pay the price as the Tories handout billions in tax giveaways to the super-rich and big business.

“This General Election is a choice between a Labour Party that will stand up for the many and a Tory Party that only looks after the privileged few.”

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Jeremy Corbyn speech at Chatham House

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking at Chatham House, said: 

***Check against delivery***

Chatham House has been at the forefront of thinking on Britain’s role in the world. So with the General Election less than a month away, it’s a great place to set out my approach: on how a Labour Government I lead will keep Britain safe, reshape relationships with partners around the world, work to strengthen the United Nations and respond to the global challenges we face in the 21st century.

And I should say a warm welcome to the UN Special Representative in Somalia,  Michael Keating, who is here today.

On Monday, we commemorated VE Day, the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in Europe.

VE Day marked the defeat of fascism and the beginning of the end of a global war that claimed seventy million lives.

General Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces in 1944, went on to become Republican President of the United States during some of the most dangerous years of the Cold War in the 1950s.

In his final televised address to the American people as President, Eisenhower gave a stark warning of what he described as “the acquisition of unwarranted influence by the military-industrial complex.”

“Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry”, he said, “can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defence with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

Sadly, in the more than half a century since that speech, I think it’s clear that Eisenhower’s warning has not been heeded.

Too much of our debate about defence and security is one dimensional. You are either for or against what is presented as “strong defence”, regardless of the actual record of what that has meant in practice.

Alert citizens or political leaders who advocate other routes to security are dismissed or treated as unreliable.

My own political views were shaped by the horrors of war and the threat of a nuclear holocaust. My parents met while organising solidarity with the elected government of Spain against Franco’s fascists during the Spanish civil war.

My generation grew up under the shadow of the cold war. On television, through the 1960s and into the seventies, the news was dominated by Vietnam. I was haunted by images of civilians fleeing chemical weapons used by the United States.

I didn’t imagine then that nearly fifty years later we would see chemical weapons still being used against innocent civilians. What an abject failure. How is it that history keeps repeating itself?

At the end of the cold war, when the Berlin Wall came down we were told it was the end of history. Global leaders promised a more peaceful, stable world.

It didn’t work out like that.

Today the world is more unstable than even at the height of the cold war. The approach to international security we have been using since the 1990s has simply not worked.

Regime change wars in Afghanistan Iraq, Libya, and Syria – and Western interventions in Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen – have failed in their own terms, and made the world a more dangerous place.

This is the fourth General Election in a row to be held while Britain is at war and our armed forces are in action in the Middle East and beyond.

The fact is that the ‘war on terror’ which has driven these interventions has failed.

They have not increased our security at home – just the opposite.

And they have caused destabilisation and devastation abroad.

Last September, the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee published a report on David Cameron’s Libyan war.

They concluded the intervention led to political and economic collapse, humanitarian and migrant crises and fuelled the rise of Isis in Africa and across the Middle East.

Is that really the way to deliver security to the British people?

Who seriously believes that’s what real strength looks like?

We need to step back and have some fresh thinking.

The world faces huge problems. As well as the legacy of regime change wars, there is a dangerous cocktail of ethnic conflicts, of food insecurity, water scarcity, the emerging effects of climate change.

Add to that mix a grotesque and growing level of inequality in which just eight billionaires own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion poorest people.

And you end up with a refugee crisis of epic proportions affecting every continent in the world. With more displaced people in the world than since the Second World War.

These problems are getting worse and fuelling threats and instability.

The global situation is becoming more dangerous.

And the new US President seems determined to add to the dangers by recklessly escalating the confrontation with North Korea, unilaterally launching missile strikes on Syria, opposing President Obama’s nuclear arms deal with Iran and backing a new nuclear arms race.

A Labour Government will want a strong and friendly relationship with the United States. But we will not be afraid to speak our mind. 

The US is the strongest military power on the planet by a very long way. It has a special responsibility to use its power with care and to support international efforts to resolve conflicts collectively and peacefully.

Waiting to see which way the wind blows in Washington isn’t strong leadership. And pandering to an erratic Trump administration will not deliver stability.

When Theresa May addressed a Republican Party conference in Philadelphia in January she spoke in alarmist terms about the rise of China and India and of the danger of the West being eclipsed.

She said America and Britain had to ‘stand strong’ together and use their military might to protect their interests.

This is the sort of language that led to calamity in Iraq and Libya and all the other disastrous wars that stole the post-Cold War promise of a new world order.

I do not see India and China in those terms. Nor do I think the vast majority of Americans or British people want the boots of their young men and women on the ground in Syria fighting a war that would escalate the suffering and slaughter even further.

Britain deserves better than simply outsourcing our country’s security and prosperity to the whims of the Trump White House.

So no more hand holding with Donald Trump.

A Labour Government will conduct a robust and independent foreign policy – made in Britain.

A Labour Government would seek to work for peace and security with all the other permanent members of the United Nations security council – the US, China, Russia and France.

And with other countries with a major role to play such as India, South Africa, Brazil and Germany.  

The ‘bomb first, talk later’ approach to security has failed. To persist with it, as the Conservative Government has made clear it is determined to do, is a recipe for increasing, not reducing, threats and insecurity.

I am often asked if as prime minister I would order the use of nuclear weapons.

It’s an extraordinary question when you think about it – would you order the indiscriminate killing of millions of people? Would you risk such extensive contamination of the planet that no life could exist across large parts of the world?

If circumstances arose where that was a real option, it would represent complete and cataclysmic failure. It would mean world leaders had already triggered a spiral of catastrophe for humankind.

Labour is committed actively to pursue disarmament under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and we are committed to no first use of nuclear weapons.

But let me make this absolutely clear.

If elected prime minister, I will do everything necessary to protect the safety and security of our people and our country.

That would be my first duty.

And to achieve it, I know I will have to work with other countries to solve problems, defuse tensions and build collective security.

The best defence for Britain is a government actively engaged in seeking peaceful solutions to the world’s problems.

But I am not a pacifist.

I accept that military action, under international law and as a genuine last resort, is in some circumstances necessary.

But that is very far from the kind of unilateral wars and interventions that have almost become routine in recent times.

I will not take lectures on security or humanitarian action from a Conservative Party that stood by in the 1980s – refusing even to impose sanctions – while children on the streets of Soweto were being shot dead in the streets, or which has backed every move to put our armed forces in harm’s way regardless of the impact on our people’s security.

Once again, in this election, it’s become clear that a vote for Theresa May could be a vote to escalate the war in Syria, risking military confrontation with Russia, adding to the suffering of the Syrian people and increasing global insecurity.

When you see children suffering in war, it is only natural to want to do something.

But the last thing we need is more of the same failed recipe that has served us so badly and the people of the region so calamitously.

Labour will stand up for the people of Syria. We will press for war crimes to be properly investigated. And we will work tirelessly to make the Geneva talks work.

Every action that is taken over Syria must be judged by whether it helps to bring an end to the tragedy of the Syrian war or does the opposite.

Even if ISIS is defeated militarily, the conflict will not end until there is a negotiated settlement involving all the main parties, including the regional and international powers and an inclusive government in Iraq.

All wars and conflicts eventually are brought to an end by political means.

So Labour would adopt a new approach. We will not step back from our responsibilities.

But our focus will be on strengthening international co-operation and supporting the efforts of the United Nations to resolve conflicts.

A Labour Government will respect international law and oppose lawlessness and unilateralism in international relations. We believe human rights and social justice should drive our foreign policy.

In 1968, Harold Wilson’s Labour Government signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

As prime minister, I hope to build on that achievement. 

Labour’s support for the renewal of the Trident submarine system does not preclude working for meaningful, multilateral steps to achieve reductions in nuclear arsenals. 

A Labour Government will pursue a triple commitment to the interlocking foreign policy instruments of: defence, development and diplomacy.

For all their bluster, the Tory record on defence and security has been one of incompetence and failure.

They have balanced the books on the backs of servicemen and women.

Deep cuts have seen the Army reduced to its smallest size since the Napoleonic wars.

From stagnant pay and worsening conditions, to poor housing.

The morale of our service personnel and veterans is at rock bottom.

And as the security threats and challenges we face are not bound by geographic borders it is vital that as Britain leaves the EU, we maintain a close relationship with our European partners alongside our commitment to NATO and spending at least 2 per cent on defence.

That means working with our allies to ensure peace and security in Europe. We will work to halt the drift to confrontation with Russia and the escalation of military deployments across the continent.

There is no need whatever to weaken our opposition to Russia’s human rights abuses at home or abroad to understand the necessity of winding down tensions on the Russia-Nato border and supporting dialogue to reduce the risk of international conflict.

We will back a new conference on security and cooperation in Europe and seek to defuse the crisis in Ukraine through implementation of the Minsk agreements.

We will continue to work with the EU on operational missions to promote and support global and regional security.

This means our Armed Forces will have the necessary capabilities to fulfil the full range of obligations ensuring they are versatile and able to participate in rapid stabilisation, disaster relief, UN peacekeeping and conflict resolution activities.

Because security is not only about direct military defence, it’s about conflict resolution and prevention, underpinned by strong diplomacy.

So the next Labour Government will invest in the UK’s diplomatic networks and consular services.

We will seek to rebuild some of the key capabilities and services that have been lost as a result of Conservative cuts in recent years.

Finally, while Theresa May seeks to build a coalition of risk and insecurity with Donald Trump, a Labour Government will refocus Britain’s influence towards cooperation, peaceful settlements and social justice. 

The life chances, security and prosperity of our citizens are dependent on a stable international environment.

We will strengthen our commitment to the UN. But we are well aware of its shortcomings, particularly in the light of repeated abuses of the veto power in the UN Security Council.

So we will work with allies and partners from around the world to build support for UN reform in order to make its institutions more effective and responsive.

And as a permanent member of the Security Council we will provide a lead by respecting the authority of International Law.

To lead this work, Labour has created a Minister for Peace who will work across the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

We will reclaim Britain’s leading role in tackling climate change, working hard to preserve the Paris Agreement and deliver on international commitments to reduce carbon emissions.

Labour will re-examine the arms export licensing regulations to ensure that all British arms exports are consistent with our legal and moral obligations.

This means refusing to grant export licences for arms when there is a clear risk that they will be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.

Weapons supplied to Saudi Arabia, when the evidence of grave breaches of humanitarian law in Yemen is overwhelming, must be halted immediately.

I see it as the next Labour’s Government task, as my task, to make the case for Britain to advance a security and foreign policy with integrity and human rights at its core.

So there is a clear choice at this election.

Between continuing with the failed policy of continual and devastating military interventions, that have intensified conflicts and increased the terrorist threat.

Or being willing to step back, learn the lessons of the past and find new ways to solve and prevent conflicts.

As Dwight Eisenhower said on another occasion:

If people “can develop weapons that are so terrifying as to make the thought of global war almost a sentence for suicide, you would think that man’s intelligence would include also his ability to find a peaceful solution.”

And in the words of Martin Luther King “The chain reaction of evil – hate – begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark days of annihilation”.

I believe we can find those solutions.

We can walk the hard yards to a better way to live together on this planet.

A Labour Government will give leadership in a new and constructive way, and that is the leadership we are ready to provide both at home and abroad.

Thank you.

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New figures show that Theresa May is failing millions of NHS patients – Jonathan Ashworth

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, commenting on NHS England Combined Performance Statistics for March released today, said:

“Theresa May’s winter crisis is stretching into summer and it is NHS patients who are paying the price. The Tories have caused chaos in A&E and have admitted that waiting times are only going to continue to grow. The truth is that standards of care for NHS patients have collapsed this winter because years of Tory underinvestment have left staff unable to cope with rising demand, and cuts to out of hospital care have left patients stuck in hospital even when they’re well enough to go home.

“Thousands more people are waiting for A&E care and routine treatment every week because of the failures of this Tory Government. Behind every one of these statistics is a patient and their family in pain because of Theresa May’s refusal to give the health service the funding it needs.

“At this election only Labour are promising to give the NHS the funding it needs to deliver the standards of care which patients expect. By guaranteeing and upholding the standards of service to which patients are legally entitled under the NHS Constitution Labour will help millions of people who are being failed by Theresa May and the Conservative Government.”

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