PCSR sign letter of opposition to 'Spy Cops Bill'

Published: 10 Nov 2020

Authored by: PCSR

Licence to kill, rape, torture for State agents and informants.
Stop the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill – in the House of Lords now.

As organisations campaigning for justice and protection for victims of rape, domestic violence, racism and other discrimination, and against the government’s refusal to address the climate emergency, we are alarmed at the Covert Human Intelligence Source (Criminal Conduct) Bill, known to the public as the Spy Cops Bill. The Bill would enable public agencies – from the intelligence services and the police, to the Gambling Commission and the Food Standards Agency – to authorise their agents and informers to commit heinous crimes, including murder, rape and other torture, with impunity.

We urge the House of Lords to stop this Bill which puts the UK population at the mercy of unaccountable shadowy forces, laying the basis for a police State. We are appalled that Labour, under the leadership of a former human rights lawyer and Director of Public Prosecutions who claims a record of defending victims, did not oppose the Bill during its third reading in the Commons on 15 October, abstaining instead.

The Bill does not place any specific limit on the types of crimes that may be authorised without judicial approval. Its justification goes beyond national security to whatever may be considered the economic interests of the UK.

In the name of ‘preventing disorder’ or ‘protecting the economy’, the Bill would:

The Bill must be seen in the context of:

Opposition to the Bill as it becomes known is growing, and includes trade unions, justice organisations, MPs and peers (see https://unitetheunion.org/campaigns/block-the-spycops-bill/.) Amnesty International warned the Bill ‘could end up providing informers and agents with a licence to kill’. Some Labour MPs have referred to the assassination of the Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane who was exposing collusion between British Security Services and loyalist paramilitaries. MP Dan Carden resigned from Labour’s Shadow Cabinet saying: ‘I share the deep concerns about this legislation from across the labour movement, human rights organisations, and so many who have suffered the abuse of State power, from blacklisted workers to the Hillsborough families and survivors.’

We call on all Parliamentarians to defend women, children and other victims of violence and their families; justice and environmentalist campaigners; human, employment and immigration rights advocates and their lawyers; and investigative journalists who are exposing crimes by agents of the State.

Those who are paid to enforce the law should not be above the law but the first to abide by it. This Bill must be stopped.

 

Black Women’s Rape Action Project

Compassion in Care

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)

English Collective of Prostitutes

Global Women Against Deportation

Global Women’s Strike

Legal Action for Women

Payday men’s network / Refusing to Kill Is Not a Crime

Queer Strike

Single Mothers’ Self-Defence

Support Not Separation

Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike

Women Against Rape

WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities)

Ian Hodson, President, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Sarah Woolley, General Secretary, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility

Licence to kill, rape, torture for State agents and informants.
Stop the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill – in the House of Lords now.

As organisations campaigning for justice and protection for victims of rape, domestic violence, racism and other discrimination, and against the government’s refusal to address the climate emergency, we are alarmed at the Covert Human Intelligence Source (Criminal Conduct) Bill, known to the public as the Spy Cops Bill. The Bill would enable public agencies – from the intelligence services and the police, to the Gambling Commission and the Food Standards Agency – to authorise their agents and informers to commit heinous crimes, including murder, rape and other torture, with impunity.

We urge the House of Lords to stop this Bill which puts the UK population at the mercy of unaccountable shadowy forces, laying the basis for a police State. We are appalled that Labour, under the leadership of a former human rights lawyer and Director of Public Prosecutions who claims a record of defending victims, did not oppose the Bill during its third reading in the Commons on 15 October, abstaining instead.

The Bill does not place any specific limit on the types of crimes that may be authorised without judicial approval. Its justification goes beyond national security to whatever may be considered the economic interests of the UK.

In the name of ‘preventing disorder’ or ‘protecting the economy’, the Bill would:

The Bill must be seen in the context of:

Opposition to the Bill as it becomes known is growing, and includes trade unions, justice organisations, MPs and peers (see https://unitetheunion.org/campaigns/block-the-spycops-bill/.) Amnesty International warned the Bill ‘could end up providing informers and agents with a licence to kill’. Some Labour MPs have referred to the assassination of the Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane who was exposing collusion between British Security Services and loyalist paramilitaries. MP Dan Carden resigned from Labour’s Shadow Cabinet saying: ‘I share the deep concerns about this legislation from across the labour movement, human rights organisations, and so many who have suffered the abuse of State power, from blacklisted workers to the Hillsborough families and survivors.’

We call on all Parliamentarians to defend women, children and other victims of violence and their families; justice and environmentalist campaigners; human, employment and immigration rights advocates and their lawyers; and investigative journalists who are exposing crimes by agents of the State.

Those who are paid to enforce the law should not be above the law but the first to abide by it. This Bill must be stopped.

 

Black Women’s Rape Action Project

Compassion in Care

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)

English Collective of Prostitutes

Global Women Against Deportation

Global Women’s Strike

Legal Action for Women

Payday men’s network / Refusing to Kill Is Not a Crime

Queer Strike

Single Mothers’ Self-Defence

Support Not Separation

Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike

Women Against Rape

WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities)

Ian Hodson, President, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Sarah Woolley, General Secretary, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility

Licence to kill, rape, torture for State agents and informants.
Stop the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill – in the House of Lords now.

As organisations campaigning for justice and protection for victims of rape, domestic violence, racism and other discrimination, and against the government’s refusal to address the climate emergency, we are alarmed at the Covert Human Intelligence Source (Criminal Conduct) Bill, known to the public as the Spy Cops Bill. The Bill would enable public agencies – from the intelligence services and the police, to the Gambling Commission and the Food Standards Agency – to authorise their agents and informers to commit heinous crimes, including murder, rape and other torture, with impunity.

We urge the House of Lords to stop this Bill which puts the UK population at the mercy of unaccountable shadowy forces, laying the basis for a police State. We are appalled that Labour, under the leadership of a former human rights lawyer and Director of Public Prosecutions who claims a record of defending victims, did not oppose the Bill during its third reading in the Commons on 15 October, abstaining instead.

The Bill does not place any specific limit on the types of crimes that may be authorised without judicial approval. Its justification goes beyond national security to whatever may be considered the economic interests of the UK.

In the name of ‘preventing disorder’ or ‘protecting the economy’, the Bill would:

The Bill must be seen in the context of:

Opposition to the Bill as it becomes known is growing, and includes trade unions, justice organisations, MPs and peers (see https://unitetheunion.org/campaigns/block-the-spycops-bill/.) Amnesty International warned the Bill ‘could end up providing informers and agents with a licence to kill’. Some Labour MPs have referred to the assassination of the Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane who was exposing collusion between British Security Services and loyalist paramilitaries. MP Dan Carden resigned from Labour’s Shadow Cabinet saying: ‘I share the deep concerns about this legislation from across the labour movement, human rights organisations, and so many who have suffered the abuse of State power, from blacklisted workers to the Hillsborough families and survivors.’

We call on all Parliamentarians to defend women, children and other victims of violence and their families; justice and environmentalist campaigners; human, employment and immigration rights advocates and their lawyers; and investigative journalists who are exposing crimes by agents of the State.

Those who are paid to enforce the law should not be above the law but the first to abide by it. This Bill must be stopped.

 

Black Women’s Rape Action Project

Compassion in Care

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)

English Collective of Prostitutes

Global Women Against Deportation

Global Women’s Strike

Legal Action for Women

Payday men’s network / Refusing to Kill Is Not a Crime

Queer Strike

Single Mothers’ Self-Defence

Support Not Separation

Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike

Women Against Rape

WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities)

Ian Hodson, President, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Sarah Woolley, General Secretary, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility

Licence to kill, rape, torture for State agents and informants.
Stop the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill – in the House of Lords now.

As organisations campaigning for justice and protection for victims of rape, domestic violence, racism and other discrimination, and against the government’s refusal to address the climate emergency, we are alarmed at the Covert Human Intelligence Source (Criminal Conduct) Bill, known to the public as the Spy Cops Bill. The Bill would enable public agencies – from the intelligence services and the police, to the Gambling Commission and the Food Standards Agency – to authorise their agents and informers to commit heinous crimes, including murder, rape and other torture, with impunity.

We urge the House of Lords to stop this Bill which puts the UK population at the mercy of unaccountable shadowy forces, laying the basis for a police State. We are appalled that Labour, under the leadership of a former human rights lawyer and Director of Public Prosecutions who claims a record of defending victims, did not oppose the Bill during its third reading in the Commons on 15 October, abstaining instead.

The Bill does not place any specific limit on the types of crimes that may be authorised without judicial approval. Its justification goes beyond national security to whatever may be considered the economic interests of the UK.

In the name of ‘preventing disorder’ or ‘protecting the economy’, the Bill would:

The Bill must be seen in the context of:

Opposition to the Bill as it becomes known is growing, and includes trade unions, justice organisations, MPs and peers (see https://unitetheunion.org/campaigns/block-the-spycops-bill/.) Amnesty International warned the Bill ‘could end up providing informers and agents with a licence to kill’. Some Labour MPs have referred to the assassination of the Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane who was exposing collusion between British Security Services and loyalist paramilitaries. MP Dan Carden resigned from Labour’s Shadow Cabinet saying: ‘I share the deep concerns about this legislation from across the labour movement, human rights organisations, and so many who have suffered the abuse of State power, from blacklisted workers to the Hillsborough families and survivors.’

We call on all Parliamentarians to defend women, children and other victims of violence and their families; justice and environmentalist campaigners; human, employment and immigration rights advocates and their lawyers; and investigative journalists who are exposing crimes by agents of the State.

Those who are paid to enforce the law should not be above the law but the first to abide by it. This Bill must be stopped.

 

Black Women’s Rape Action Project

Compassion in Care

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)

English Collective of Prostitutes

Global Women Against Deportation

Global Women’s Strike

Legal Action for Women

Payday men’s network / Refusing to Kill Is Not a Crime

Queer Strike

Single Mothers’ Self-Defence

Support Not Separation

Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike

Women Against Rape

WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities)

Ian Hodson, President, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Sarah Woolley, General Secretary, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility

Licence to kill, rape, torture for State agents and informants.
Stop the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill – in the House of Lords now.

As organisations campaigning for justice and protection for victims of rape, domestic violence, racism and other discrimination, and against the government’s refusal to address the climate emergency, we are alarmed at the Covert Human Intelligence Source (Criminal Conduct) Bill, known to the public as the Spy Cops Bill. The Bill would enable public agencies – from the intelligence services and the police, to the Gambling Commission and the Food Standards Agency – to authorise their agents and informers to commit heinous crimes, including murder, rape and other torture, with impunity.

We urge the House of Lords to stop this Bill which puts the UK population at the mercy of unaccountable shadowy forces, laying the basis for a police State. We are appalled that Labour, under the leadership of a former human rights lawyer and Director of Public Prosecutions who claims a record of defending victims, did not oppose the Bill during its third reading in the Commons on 15 October, abstaining instead.

The Bill does not place any specific limit on the types of crimes that may be authorised without judicial approval. Its justification goes beyond national security to whatever may be considered the economic interests of the UK.

In the name of ‘preventing disorder’ or ‘protecting the economy’, the Bill would:

The Bill must be seen in the context of:

Opposition to the Bill as it becomes known is growing, and includes trade unions, justice organisations, MPs and peers (see https://unitetheunion.org/campaigns/block-the-spycops-bill/.) Amnesty International warned the Bill ‘could end up providing informers and agents with a licence to kill’. Some Labour MPs have referred to the assassination of the Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane who was exposing collusion between British Security Services and loyalist paramilitaries. MP Dan Carden resigned from Labour’s Shadow Cabinet saying: ‘I share the deep concerns about this legislation from across the labour movement, human rights organisations, and so many who have suffered the abuse of State power, from blacklisted workers to the Hillsborough families and survivors.’

We call on all Parliamentarians to defend women, children and other victims of violence and their families; justice and environmentalist campaigners; human, employment and immigration rights advocates and their lawyers; and investigative journalists who are exposing crimes by agents of the State.

Those who are paid to enforce the law should not be above the law but the first to abide by it. This Bill must be stopped.

 

Black Women’s Rape Action Project

Compassion in Care

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)

English Collective of Prostitutes

Global Women Against Deportation

Global Women’s Strike

Legal Action for Women

Payday men’s network / Refusing to Kill Is Not a Crime

Queer Strike

Single Mothers’ Self-Defence

Support Not Separation

Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike

Women Against Rape

WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities)

Ian Hodson, President, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Sarah Woolley, General Secretary, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility

Licence to kill, rape, torture for State agents and informants.
Stop the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill – in the House of Lords now.

As organisations campaigning for justice and protection for victims of rape, domestic violence, racism and other discrimination, and against the government’s refusal to address the climate emergency, we are alarmed at the Covert Human Intelligence Source (Criminal Conduct) Bill, known to the public as the Spy Cops Bill. The Bill would enable public agencies – from the intelligence services and the police, to the Gambling Commission and the Food Standards Agency – to authorise their agents and informers to commit heinous crimes, including murder, rape and other torture, with impunity.

We urge the House of Lords to stop this Bill which puts the UK population at the mercy of unaccountable shadowy forces, laying the basis for a police State. We are appalled that Labour, under the leadership of a former human rights lawyer and Director of Public Prosecutions who claims a record of defending victims, did not oppose the Bill during its third reading in the Commons on 15 October, abstaining instead.

The Bill does not place any specific limit on the types of crimes that may be authorised without judicial approval. Its justification goes beyond national security to whatever may be considered the economic interests of the UK.

In the name of ‘preventing disorder’ or ‘protecting the economy’, the Bill would:

The Bill must be seen in the context of:

Opposition to the Bill as it becomes known is growing, and includes trade unions, justice organisations, MPs and peers (see https://unitetheunion.org/campaigns/block-the-spycops-bill/.) Amnesty International warned the Bill ‘could end up providing informers and agents with a licence to kill’. Some Labour MPs have referred to the assassination of the Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane who was exposing collusion between British Security Services and loyalist paramilitaries. MP Dan Carden resigned from Labour’s Shadow Cabinet saying: ‘I share the deep concerns about this legislation from across the labour movement, human rights organisations, and so many who have suffered the abuse of State power, from blacklisted workers to the Hillsborough families and survivors.’

We call on all Parliamentarians to defend women, children and other victims of violence and their families; justice and environmentalist campaigners; human, employment and immigration rights advocates and their lawyers; and investigative journalists who are exposing crimes by agents of the State.

Those who are paid to enforce the law should not be above the law but the first to abide by it. This Bill must be stopped.

 

Black Women’s Rape Action Project

Compassion in Care

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)

English Collective of Prostitutes

Global Women Against Deportation

Global Women’s Strike

Legal Action for Women

Payday men’s network / Refusing to Kill Is Not a Crime

Queer Strike

Single Mothers’ Self-Defence

Support Not Separation

Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike

Women Against Rape

WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities)

Ian Hodson, President, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Sarah Woolley, General Secretary, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility

Licence to kill, rape, torture for State agents and informants.
Stop the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill – in the House of Lords now.

As organisations campaigning for justice and protection for victims of rape, domestic violence, racism and other discrimination, and against the government’s refusal to address the climate emergency, we are alarmed at the Covert Human Intelligence Source (Criminal Conduct) Bill, known to the public as the Spy Cops Bill. The Bill would enable public agencies – from the intelligence services and the police, to the Gambling Commission and the Food Standards Agency – to authorise their agents and informers to commit heinous crimes, including murder, rape and other torture, with impunity.

We urge the House of Lords to stop this Bill which puts the UK population at the mercy of unaccountable shadowy forces, laying the basis for a police State. We are appalled that Labour, under the leadership of a former human rights lawyer and Director of Public Prosecutions who claims a record of defending victims, did not oppose the Bill during its third reading in the Commons on 15 October, abstaining instead.

The Bill does not place any specific limit on the types of crimes that may be authorised without judicial approval. Its justification goes beyond national security to whatever may be considered the economic interests of the UK.

In the name of ‘preventing disorder’ or ‘protecting the economy’, the Bill would:

The Bill must be seen in the context of:

Opposition to the Bill as it becomes known is growing, and includes trade unions, justice organisations, MPs and peers (see https://unitetheunion.org/campaigns/block-the-spycops-bill/.) Amnesty International warned the Bill ‘could end up providing informers and agents with a licence to kill’. Some Labour MPs have referred to the assassination of the Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane who was exposing collusion between British Security Services and loyalist paramilitaries. MP Dan Carden resigned from Labour’s Shadow Cabinet saying: ‘I share the deep concerns about this legislation from across the labour movement, human rights organisations, and so many who have suffered the abuse of State power, from blacklisted workers to the Hillsborough families and survivors.’

We call on all Parliamentarians to defend women, children and other victims of violence and their families; justice and environmentalist campaigners; human, employment and immigration rights advocates and their lawyers; and investigative journalists who are exposing crimes by agents of the State.

Those who are paid to enforce the law should not be above the law but the first to abide by it. This Bill must be stopped.

 

Black Women’s Rape Action Project

Compassion in Care

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)

English Collective of Prostitutes

Global Women Against Deportation

Global Women’s Strike

Legal Action for Women

Payday men’s network / Refusing to Kill Is Not a Crime

Queer Strike

Single Mothers’ Self-Defence

Support Not Separation

Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike

Women Against Rape

WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities)

Ian Hodson, President, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Sarah Woolley, General Secretary, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility