Forget the spies: councils want the Snooper’s Charter, too

The Tories aren’t giving up just yet on the Communications Data Bill, and Keir Starmer’s intervention, reported in the Sun this morning, will help their cause. The Director of Public Prosecutions’ letter was written before Nick Clegg announced he was blocking the legislation, and argues that ‘communications data is so important that any reduction in capability would create a real risk to future prosecutions’.

The problem for the Home Office is that it needs to make the case for this legislation not just in the face of cynicism that it is really needed, which has only increased following the revelations about the NSA’s Prism programme. Ministers also need to convince those opposed to a Snooper’s Charter that it won’t just be used by other organisations like HMRC and local authorities for purposes far less grand than those outlined in Starmer’s letter.