“DEMOCRATIC banditry” shoved state snooping laws through the Commons yesterday in less time than it takes to sign up for a broadband connection.

Principled MPs spoke out as Con-Dem ministers cited emergency measures to rush their “snooper’s charter” through Parliament in the space of a single afternoon. 

The Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill will legitimise the government’s controversial “blanket retention” policy, which requires internet service providers to log details of all users’ online activity for inspection by police, spooks and other government agencies. 

Tory Home Secretary Theresa May scowled from the largely empty benches as her Junior Minister James Brokenshire repeatedly swung between declaring an “emergency” and assuring the “status quo.”

Both Labour and Lib Dem leaders gave their backing to the Bill, but around 49 backbenchers stood up to the coalition’s timetabling chicanery.

Labour MP Diane Abbott branded the tactic “an insult to the intelligence of the House,” while colleague Tom Watson noted that MPs were granted less than an hour to submit amendments before the Bill’s reading.

“It’s democratic banditry reminiscent of a rogue state. Those who put together this Bill should be ashamed,” he said.

Response from Tory MP, Henry Smith:

Thank you for your email concerning the Data Retention & Investigation Powers Bill.  Understandably there is some confusion that the content of calls and emails would be intercepted. In fact the Bill only allows metadata to be scrutinised – in other words where a communication took place and for how long but not the content of such messages.

The Home Secretary, updated the House of Commons last Thursday on this issue during which she explained that it is the first duty of Government to protect citizens.  As such, the emergency legislation to ensure that our law enforcement and intelligence agencies have the ability to keep us safe is being re-introduced. The proposed measures merely replace what existed before the European Court of Justice ruled on the issues in April this year. Indeed the new measures will have greater safeguards than before and a 'self-destruct' cause included meaning the legislation will automatically fall in 2016 unless actively debated again and renewed.   Access to information relating to communications is subject to robust safeguards and is vital in the fight against serious and organised crime, such as drug smuggling and peodphile rings, as well as terrorism and has been used successfully for many years.

Communications data – the who, where, when and how of a communication but not its content has been and will continue to be stored for a year only. It is a vital part in the investigation of crime and protection of the public; I understand from the Home Office that it has been used in around 95 per cent of serious and organised crime investigations handled by the Crown Prosecution Service and every major Security Service counter-terrorism investigation over the last decade.

In her statement, the Home Secretary stressed that interception of the content of suspect communications is of critical importance to the preservation of national security. Since 2010, the majority of the security service’s top priority UK counter-terrorism investigations have used intercept capabilities in some form to identify, understand or disrupt plots seeking to harm the UK and its citizens.  Without renewed legislation in this area we face the real prospect of a serious degradation in the ability of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to protect us from serious threats.

Firstly, the European Court of Justice judgment of 8 April declared the EU Data Retention Directive (2006) invalid. This Directive required member nations across Europe to provide for a mandatory communications data retention framework covering certain data for the purpose of the investigation of serious crime.  The Government believes that it needs to legislate to maintain an effective mandatory communications data retention framework, and to address the ruling unambiguously and immediately.

If companies could no longer be required to retain communications data for a year then law enforcement’s capability to prevent and detect crime and protect the public would be severely degraded; many investigations would be delayed and some would cease entirely.

A second component of the Bill will put beyond doubt that companies providing communication services to customers in the UK must comply with lawful requests under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) irrespective of where those companies are located, even outside the UK or Europe.    A number of overseas communication service providers have questioned whether they are required to comply with obligations under the Act in relation to the interception of communications.

With the increasing globalisation of communications, any decrease in cooperation from overseas providers could have a devastating impact on national and global security.  The Home Office has stressed that if we were to lose visibility of what terrorists are saying to each other, then we will lose the ability to understand and mitigate the threat that they pose.

This Bill will ensure that communications data continues to be available when it is needed.  Whilst most of the European Court’s criticisms are already addressed in UK law, the Bill will also respond to the judgment.  The European Court’s judgment did not take into account national laws on access to communications, and in particular the UK’s access regime with its robust safeguards.  The Government has emphasised that our communications data regime is internationally respected, and already addresses most of the criticisms made in the judgment.  However, ministers are introducing a number of new protections to respond to the judgment, such as enhancing the data retention notice regime, and formalising the requirements placed on communications companies to safeguard this crucial data.  In addition, I understand that the Government will also create a Code of Practice on Data Retention, which will put best-practice guidance on a statutory footing.  Furthermore, the Bill will also put beyond doubt the extra-territorial application of RIPA to ensure that companies, irrespective of where they are based, can comply with their obligations.

I must stress that the legislation does not create any new powers, rights of access or obligations on communications companies beyond those that already exist. It does not seek to replicate the proposals that were included in the Draft Communications Data Bill, published in 2012. And it would sit aside the already robust regime RIPA provides to regulate access to retained data.

The Government believe that we must act now to ensure that the capability of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent and detect crime, protect the public and ensure national security does not rapidly and seriously diminish. I note that the Opposition also agree with this and are fully supporting the legislation. The need to act is made all the more pressing because the threats we face remain considerable, not least the collapse of Syria, the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, organised crime that crosses national boundaries and the expanding scope of cybercrime.

All these threats and many more should remind us that the world is a dangerous place and the United Kingdom needs the capabilities to defend its interests and protect its citizens.

The Government believes that the proposals on communications data and investigatory powers as set out above are necessary to ensure that law enforcement and security agencies are able to continue making use of these essential tools. These provisions are not intended to fill the gap which we were looking to close with the draft communications data bill but to ensure that law enforcement can continue to access the material which they currently have access to.

I am grateful for your taking the time to contact me and please never hesitate to get back in touch if I can be of any further assistance on this issue or any other.

Yours sincerely



Henry Smith MP
Crawley Constituency

House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA

020 7219 7043 - Westminster
01293 934554 - Crawley

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