Clegg orders Internet monitoring rethink

Nick Clegg has told the British Home Office to go “back to the drawing board” on proposals for police and security services to monitor e-mail, web searches and Skype phone calls, after a cross-party committee issued a scathing report on the plans.

The deputy prime minister commissioned a joint committee to scrutinize the government’s draft legislation on communications data earlier this year, following concerns that awarding police new powers would breach civil liberties. In its report, the group of peers and MPs has accused the Home Office of using “fanciful and misleading” figures to justify its proposals, which it says go much further than is needed to pursue criminals and do not include necessary safeguards. Clegg highlighted the “serious criticisms” in the document, covering the scope of the plans, proportionality, cost and checks and balances. While the deputy prime minister said he understood that law enforcement agencies needed new powers to fight crime, he made clear that the government needed to have a “fundamental rethink” about the legislation. “We cannot proceed with this bill and we have to go back to the drawing board,” he said.