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UK: SPECIAL BRANCH SPIES ON MPs: Furious Labour MPs allegedly spied on by undercover cops demand to see files

26 March 2015

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"Furious Labour MPs have demanded to see their secret Special Branch files after it emerged they were allegedly spied on by undercover cops.

"Deputy party leader Harriet Harman, ex-Cabinet Minister Peter Hain and senior backbencher Jeremy Corbyn urged the Government to release the confidential documents detailing their activities.

A now-defunct unit of Met Police officers has been accused of threatening democracy by keeping and even updating records on their targets after they became MPs - including Jack Straw during his time as Home Secretary."

See the article: Furious Labour MPs allegedly spied on by undercover cops demand to see files (Mirror, link)

Parliament is about to go into recess before the general election in March, so it is unlikely that there will be many formal developments before the election of a new parliament. As Home Officer minister Mike Penning noted during the debate: "Lots of things are possible with noticein the next Parliament.". Penning also told Harriet Harman that he could not guarantee MPs would be able to see the full contents of the files kept on them: "Ultimately, there may be reasons for that. I was a counter-terrorism Minister in Northern Ireland, where there had to be redactions. I will make sure that as much as can be released is released." See: debate: Undercover Policing (Hansard, link)

Background: Police continued spying on Labour activists after their election as MPs (Guardian, link)

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