This in from the office Isle of Wight Conservative MP, Andrew Turner. Ed
Andrew Turner last night voted against the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill – known as the DRIP law by those campaigning against it. In an unusual move the three main party leaders all agreed to introduce the Bill under emergency legislation and use a timetable motion (known as a guillotine) to enable it to pass through all its’ stages in the Commons in a few hours.
The Bill was passed
Despite the opposition of a cross-party group of up to 56 MPs, including the Island’s MP, the Bill was passed by a large majority and now moves into the House of Lords.
The Bill was introduced after the European Court of Justice ruled in April that existing legislation could infringe the right to privacy guaranteed under EU law.
Lots of interest from residents
Mr Turner’s office received many e-mails over the last couple of days expressing concern about the legislation, which includes requirements for phone and internet companies to retain customers’ data on phone calls, e-mails and social media activity for up to a year and gives security services unprecedented access to it. The legislation covers non-UK companies with users based in Britain.
Mr Turner voted against the lack of parliamentary time for the Bill, against the Bill being passed and in favour of a ‘sunset’ amendment which would mean the legislation expired at the end of this year, giving time for new legislation to be brought forward with more time for scrutiny.
Speaking after the Bill passed through the Commons to the Lords he said:
“I received many e-mails passed on from campaigning groups with legal opinions that the DRIP Bill was not compatible with EU law. Whilst I always value Islanders contacting me about their concerns I’m afraid such information was of limited value – there wasn’t even time for proper scrutiny of this Bill, let alone judge detailed arguments from opposing lawyers. The ruling which led to this was made in April and following that there has been many weeks of negotiation between party leaders behind closed doors. Yet MPs were given only a matter of hours to debate it. Part of our job is to scrutinise legislation – that was impossible yesterday.
“We all want effective ways of dealing with terrorists and paedophiles – but we are not all potential terrorists and paedophiles and without meaningful scrutiny nobody can really say what the implications of this law will be. Far more often than not, hasty legislation is bad legislation and it may well be open to legal challenge. The DRIP law is something that erodes the privacy of all – and such civil liberties can seem unimportant until they are lost.
I’m afraid that pushing through such important matters in a single day without proper scrutiny was a bad day for parliamentary democracy.”
