A Labour party MP is alleged to have illegally hacked into a Liberal Democrat's email. Following the allegations, House of Commons officials have been asked to launch an investigation, and a memo has been circulated in the Lib Dem party, warning members to take precautions to protect their emails.

The Independent newspaper reports that the breach was discovered during an inquiry into a leak to The Guardian. The source of the information was traced back to a Labour party employee who allegedly read one of the emails concerned.

The newspaper quotes the memo that warns of security breaches: "We do know the Guardian leak was the product of a parliamentary email hack (Labour was the culprit) and alert you to continuing problems with the security of the network."

Charles Kennedy is expected to raise the matter with Tony Blair at their next meeting.

More information will be published as it becomes available. ®