To: Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister

Stop the Government from spying on all of our bank accounts

After successfully beating mass bank spying powers under the Conservative government thanks to your help, we fought tooth and nail against their resurrection under the Labour government.

We led a coalition of over 25 NGOs and briefed parliamentarians at every stage of the Public Authorities, Fraud Error and Recovery Bill. We held a parliamentary briefing for MPs, drafted several amendments to the Bill that would prevent the worst excesses of bank spying securing cross-party support, and Big Brother Watch was name-checked at least 3 times during the debates.

Incredibly, we achieved two amendments to the Bill, meaning that algorithmic flags from bank spying can NOT trigger a benefits review alone.

While the mass bank spying powers are now law, the situation could have been much worse. Going forward, we will monitor the situation closely and continue with our longer-term investigation uncovering the Government’s use of secretive algorithms shaping the welfare system and disadvantaging society’s poorest.

You can find out more about what these powers may mean for you here: https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/bankspying/what-do-the-governments-bank-spying-powers-mean-for-me/

Urgently drop mass bank spying plans

Why is this important?

Sir Keir Starmer is pushing plans we defeated under the Conservative Government - to spy on all of our bank accounts on the premise of dealing with welfare fraud and error.

It will force banks to flag people who meet secret criteria to the government.

Everyone wants fraudulent uses of public money to be dealt with, and the government already has strong powers to check the bank statements of suspects.

But this is a major expansion of government power that takes away our financial privacy like never before and does away with the presumption of innocence - the democratic principle that you shouldn't be spied on unless police suspect you of wrongdoing. People who are disabled, sick, carers or looking for work should not be treated like criminals by default. None of us should.

We must stop this!

I don’t want my bank account to be spied on. If thousands of us sign this petition, we can make Starmer drop these dangerous mass bank spying powers.

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Big Brother Watch

Links

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Updates

2024-12-05 19:58:56 +0000

200,000 signatures reached

2024-05-24 16:21:19 +0100

🚨Breaking: The Government's mass bank spying powers have been BINNED as the Data Bill was dumped before the prorogation of Parliament.

This is a stunning victory, stopping the Government's plans to spy on all of our bank accounts in their tracks, and we couldn't have done it without each and every one of you.

🎉YOU DID IT!🎉

You've been with us relentlessly campaigning against these mass bank account scanning powers from the beginning.

Thank you to each one of 170,000 of you who signed our petition.

Thank you to each one of you who wrote to your MP demanding their attention to this crucial issue.

Thank you to each one of you who helped us spread our vital message on social media.

These proposals were Orwellian, cruel and intrusive in the extreme, but thanks to your support, we defeated these dystopian powers. Thank you for standing up for financial privacy, freedom & fairness.

2024-05-14 18:02:27 +0100

🚨BREAKING: We delivered your message to Rishi Sunak

170,000 people have spoken out against the Government’s plan to spy on all of our bank accounts, under the premise of detecting welfare fraud and error.

That’s why today we travelled to No 10 to send your message to Rishi Sunak.

If you're with us, will you help us to raise £5,000 for our next campaign action to stop the Government’s authoritarian plans?

DONATE TO STOP AUTHORITARIAN BANK SPYING PLANS: https://donate.stripe.com/fZe16W3IQ75i7CM5kE

Help us with our big plan for an action that will get the country talking.

So far we've:

💥 Commissioned groundbreaking legal advice

💥 Secured front page news coverage

💥 Worked with MPs and Peers, briefing them ahead of debates in Parliament

💥 Brought over 40 campaign groups together

💥 Delivered your message to No 10

Now we have a BIG plan to take our message to the heart of power in a way politicians can't fail to miss.

Thank you,

Silkie Carlo,
Big Brother Watch Director

2024-03-18 08:38:34 +0000

150,000 signatures reached

2024-03-07 16:17:01 +0000

100,000 signatures reached

2024-03-05 16:22:09 +0000

50,000 signatures reached

2024-01-12 15:19:39 +0000

20,000 signatures reached

2024-01-12 10:29:18 +0000

10,000 signatures reached

2024-01-11 21:40:20 +0000

5,000 signatures reached

2024-01-11 13:36:09 +0000

1,000 signatures reached

2024-01-11 13:18:38 +0000

500 signatures reached

2024-01-11 12:30:55 +0000

100 signatures reached

2024-01-11 12:13:10 +0000

50 signatures reached

2024-01-11 12:04:10 +0000

25 signatures reached

2024-01-11 12:02:01 +0000

10 signatures reached