hi,

I've changed the brake shoes on the back of my MK6 Fiesta and since changing them the handbrake has gotten very high. I did pull the handbrake when the cable was disconnected from the shoe by mistake - would this have caused the handbrake to loosen? I am pretty sure I have the handbrake cable in the shoe lever correctly, any ideas?

Did you adjust the shoes using the adjuster inside the drum then adjust the slack in the handbrake cable? sounds like you've missed something somewhere in the adjustment. 

assuming you have not not adjusted the hand brake cable at all  -  then it is probably due to the auto brake shoe adjusters inside the drums needing adjusting up. They should auto adjust but often they do not. remove drum, do the shoe adjuster up until the point where you can just get the drum back on without the shoes fouling the drum when you spin the drum. if you spin the drum and it rubs a bit then push brake pedal down hard and out handbrake on (seperately not at same time) to help centre the shoes better. if the drum still does not spin freely it needs the shoe adjuster slackening off a bit.