The government’s controversial ‘bank spying’ bill threatens to create an “unprecedented level of population-wide mass surveillance,” several leading campaign groups and charities have warned, as they urge ministers to overhaul the plans.
Labour’s new Fraud, Error and Debt Bill is currently in the final stages of the House of Lords, and set to become law later this year. It forms a central part of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) plans to crackdown on benefit fraud, with new powers for the department to request information from claimants’ bank accounts and and deduct funds directly from them.
