Privacy and civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch has called the Government’s plans to spy on everyone’s bank accounts “one of the biggest assaults on welfare in a generation”. The group’s director Silkie Carlo said:
“We all want genuine fraudsters to face the law, especially the multi-millionaire tax avoiders and Covid scammers.
“But these extreme powers are not only about fraud but about correcting the government’s own frequent payment errors.
“We must be extremely cautious about the government creating a second tier justice system reserved for people who rely on welfare that side-steps fair hearings in courts to take away people’s funds and freedoms.”