Keir Starmer's Proposal Sparks Bank Spying Concerns

26 Sept

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has outlined plans to combat benefit fraud, which is reported to cost taxpayers nearly £10 billion annually. His announcement, made during the Labour Party’s annual conference, introduced the proposed Fraud, Error and Debt Bill. This legislation is designed to grant the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) expanded powers to address fraud more effectively. According to the government's press release, the bill is expected to recover £1.6 billion over five years by modernizing anti-fraud efforts and protecting vulnerable citizens from accumulating debt.

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However, digital rights group Big Brother Watch has raised concerns, claiming this bill revives controversial banking surveillance measures, previously struck down in past proposals. Under the bill, banks would be compelled to share data that indicates potential benefit overpayments, which Big Brother Watch argues would lead to widespread monitoring of citizens' financial activity, regardless of suspicion.

Silkie Carlo, Director of Big Brother Watch, critiqued the legislation, noting that the bill's promised recovery aligns with similar figures previously proposed by the Conservative government. Carlo pointed out that the new measures would recover less than 3% of the estimated annual loss due to welfare fraud and error. She said that this level of intrusion into bank accounts does not genuinely protect public funds but instead subjects millions, including disabled people and pensioners, to undue surveillance.

Despite assurances in the government’s release that DWP would not have direct access to individual bank accounts, Carlo highlighted that banks would still be legally required to scan all accounts, flagging benefit recipients for ongoing monitoring and automated reporting to the government. Big Brother Watch warns that this approach could lead to systemic injustices, reminiscent of the British Post Office scandal, where over 900 sub postmasters were wrongfully convicted due to flawed accounting software.

Starmer also announced a Duty of Candour law, set to be introduced by April, aimed at ensuring public authorities and servants are held criminally accountable for transparency failures. This law, Starmer emphasized, was inspired by past injustices, including the Horizon scandal.

This was first reported by L0la at The Rage.co.

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