diff --git a/.github/workflows/verify-pull-request.yml b/.github/workflows/verify-pull-request.yml
index ccef9715..9efd718f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/verify-pull-request.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/verify-pull-request.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 name: Verify Pull Request meets Requirements
 on:
-  pull_request_target: # need write permission
+  pull_request: # need write permission
     branches:
       - main
     types: [opened, edited]
@@ -8,70 +8,57 @@ jobs:
   mirror-linked-issue:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest # find-linked-issue GitHub Action is only supported on Linux
     permissions:
+      contents: read
       issues: read
       pull-requests: write
     steps:
       - name: Checkout repository
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
-      - name: add-issue-to-body
+        with:
+          sparse-checkout: |
+            .github
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+      - id: add-issue-to-body
+        name: Link issue in body
         run: | # get the title, take the first word which should be the issue number, and add this to the body
-          title=$(gh pr view ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} --json title --jq '.title')
-          issue_number=$title[(ws: :)1]
-          body=$(gh pr view ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} --json body --jq '.body')
-          new_body="Closes #$issue_number" >> $body
-          gh pr edit -b $new_body
+          title="${{ github.event.pull_request.title }}"
+          issue_number=${title%% *}
+          new_body="Closes #$issue_number"$'\n\n'"${{ github.event.pull_request.body }}"
+          gh pr edit ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} --body "$new_body"
           echo "Edited the body to include the issue number $issue_number"
+          echo "issue_number=$issue_number" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
         env:
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
-      - name: find-linked-issues
-        uses: Ismoh-Games/find-linked-issues@v1.0.6
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+      - id: copy-issue-labels
+        name: Copy Issue Labels
+        uses: michalvankodev/copy-issue-labels@v1.2.1
         with:
-          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          repository: ${{ github.repository }}
-          pull-request-number: ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
-          pull-request-body: ${{ github.event.pull_request.body }}
-          copy-issues-labels: true
-          include-closed-issues: false
-
-      # Use the output from the `find-linked-issues` step
-      - name: Use the output
-        run: |
-          echo "is-pull-request-linked-to-issues: ${{ steps.find-linked-issues.outputs.is-pull-request-linked-to-issues }}"
-          echo "linked-issues: ${{ steps.find-linked-issues.outputs.linked-issues }}"
-          echo "pull-request-labels: ${{ steps.find-linked-issues.outputs.pull-request-labels }}"
+          repo-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          from-title: true
 
       - name: Get issue assignee
         id: get-issue-assignee
         run: |
-          first_issue=gh issue view ${{ steps.find-linked-issues.outputs.linked-issues[1] }} --json assignees --jq '
-          .assignees'
-          echo "first_assignee=$(fromJson(first_issue)[1].login" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-
+          first_assignee=$(gh issue view "${{ steps.add-issue-to-body.outputs.issue_number }}" \
+            --json assignees \
+            --jq '.assignees[0].login')
+          echo "first_assignee=$first_assignee" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
       - name: Set PR assignee
-        run: |
-          gh pr edit ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} \
-            --add-assignee ${{ steps.get-issue-assignee.outputs.first_assignee }}
+        run: gh pr edit ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} --add-assignee "${{ env.ISSUE_ASSIGNEE }}"
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          ISSUE_ASSIGNEE: ${{ steps.get-issue-assignee.outputs.first_assignee }}
 
       - name: Set PR reviewer to Declan
         if: ${{ steps.get-issue-assignee.outputs.first_assignee == 'varunsingh87' }}
-        run: |
-          gh pr edit ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} \
-            --add-reviewer "Datoneguy246"
+        run: gh pr edit ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} --add-reviewer "Datoneguy246"
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
       - name: Set PR reviewer to Varun
         if: ${{ steps.get-issue-assignee.outputs.first_assignee == 'Datoneguy246' }}
-        run: |
-          gh pr edit ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} \
-            --add-reviewer "varunsingh87"
-
-      - name: Announce Success
-        if: ${{ steps.find-linked-issues.outputs.is-pull-request-linked-to-issues == 'True' }}
-        run: |
-          echo "Pull request is linked to issues"
-
-      - name: Announce Failure
-        if: ${{ steps.find-linked-issues.outputs.is-pull-request-linked-to-issues == 'False' }}
-        run: |
-          echo "::warning Pull request must have a linked issue before merging"
-          exit 1
+        run: gh pr edit ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} --add-reviewer "varunsingh87"
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}