Labour ministers implementing sweeping bank account surveillance powers opposed these same far-reaching proposals in opposition. Commenting on Labour’s double standards on this issue, Matthew Feeney of Big Brother Watch said:
“It is astonishing that Labour is currently rushing ahead with its welfare fraud bill when some of the ministers tasked with introducing it spoke out against similar intrusive powers when they were proposed by the previous Conservative government.
Sir Stephen Timms was right to brand bank spying as a ‘substantial expansion’ of state power – the risks of financial surveillance do not change when government switches hands, and Labour ministers should be asked what account for their apparent change of heart. Instead of pushing through increasing digital surveillance, the government should scrap its plans to bring in these invasive powers.”