Why the ‘snooping’ Communications Data Bill will not pass through Parliament

I believe in evidence-based policy, and if the Home Office or anyone else claims that they need new powers over the people of this country, the onus is on them to demonstrate what they need and why. They should never assume that they will always get what they want, simply because they ask for it. Politicians owe it to the people to question the needs, not just roll over and concede our hard-earned freedoms on request.

Obviously there is always a balance to be struck when deciding how many powers to give the state. We benefit from having an effective police force – but give the police too many powers, and we put too many restrictions on people’s freedoms. Orwell’s 1984 is the terrible consequence.

The use of communications data – the who, how, when and where of communications, but not the content – is definitely useful for the police, security services, and many others.