Hello and welcome to Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.

I'm Hannah White. So Parliament has shut up shop for the Easter recess and MPs are heading off back to their constituencies to prepare

for what will be a very busy spring, summer and autumn. But not before a little flurry of activity

in Westminster. On Monday we learned that Chinese state-affiliated actors have been involved in

two cyber attacks on the UK, the hacking of the Electoral Commission, and attacks on parliamentarians. So how serious

is this? What difference will it make to British politics and what can the government do about it?

Tuesday brought two ministerial resignations and a mini reshuffle. The list of Conservative MPs

quitting is growing by the week, it seems. How much of a headache is this for Ushu-Suhnak and

what will it mean for how Parliament looks following the general election?

And then to Labour.

At the time of recording, which is Thursday lunchtime,

we're busy digesting the opposition's freshly published plans for local growth.

The IFG's Devo expert will join us to explain what Kirstama wants to do

and what it might mean for England.

So joining me today is my top IFG colleague Kath Haddon. Hi, Kath. Hello, hi Hannah. Are you

looking forward to the recess? I am very much looking forward to the recess because I am off

next week because it is my mum's birthday. She won't want me to say how old she is. It's a milestone

birthday, so happy birthday, Mum. Happy birthday, Kath's Mum. And I'm delighted that we're also joined by Kieran Martin,

Professor at Oxford University's Blavatnik School, and formerly, of course, the founding chief

executive of the National Cybersecurity Centre. And I think as your Twitter bio says,

Kieran, a cyber security ace, according to The Daily Star.

It was indeed the Daily Star.

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