In his speech at Labour Party conference on Tuesday, PM Keir Starmer announced plans “to stop welfare fraud”, which campaigners say sound alarmingly similar to the powers Labour fought just a few months ago in opposition.
Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo said:
“Everyone wants fraud to be dealt with, and the government already has strong powers to investigate the bank statements of suspects.
“But to force banks to constantly spy on benefits recipients without suspicion means that not only millions of disabled people, pensioners and carers will be actively spied on but the whole population’s bank accounts are likely to be monitored for no good reason.
“A financial snooper’s charter targeted to automate suspicion of our country’s poorest is intrusive, unjustified and risks Horizon-style injustice on a mass scale.”
The Guardian – Labour’s benefit fraud crackdown would allow officials to access bank accounts