Thanks for your responses guys, and to Softscoop for your suggestion of the handbrake caliper springs!
I changed the brakes today, and found that both rear calipers were badly seized. Both the pistons and handbrake lever!
Managed to get them freed up with a bit of WD40 and perseverance. And all is good now and I installed the springs which transforms the feel of the handbrake.
However it turns out that it didn't need the cables as previously thought because it returned to normal afterwards, D'oh....
The springs I ordered were 1K0615295 & 1K0615296 which were £7.10 from germanautospares on eBay.
The Brakes were by Pagid from carparts4less.co.uk, part numbers: 104440798, 104440748, 101441398, 101440328
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silver_fox's post in Fabia VRS handbrake cable replacement was marked as the answer