Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Human rights groups urge House of Lords to block ‘deeply dangerous’ ‘Spycops Bill’
Demonstrators outside the Royal Courts of Justice, London, in 2018 where an Investigatory Powers Tribunal is hearing the case of Kate Wilson (right) who was deceived into a relationship by undercover police officer Mark Kennedy

HUMAN rights groups are urging the Lords to block the “deeply dangerous” Covert and Human Intelligence Sources Bill after it passed its final hurdle in the Commons this week. 

The “spycops” Bill sailed through its third reading in Parliament on Thursday night, with MPs voting 313 for to 98 against.

The government’s Bill would allow public authorities, including MI5 and the Home Office, to authorise agents and informants to commit crimes while undercover. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
POLICING THE POLICE: GLC leader Ken Livingstone (centre), wi
Features / 10 March 2023
10 March 2023
In an exclusive investigation, BETHANY RIELLY looks at how the state targeted leading politicians and campaigning groups — labelling many well-known figures 'extremists' and 'subversives' for attempting to hold the police to account
Eritrean female soldiers
Features / 12 December 2022
12 December 2022
On September 4, 16 Eritrean asylum-seekers were arrested at a protest against their country’s dictatorship and its supporters here. Since then, questions have been raised about whether the British authorities are doing enough to protect activists and asylum-seekers from the ‘long arm’ of the regime in Asmara
Similar stories
WORKERS ON THE MARCH: Calling for a new deal for working people in 2022
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

Labour must not allow unelected members of the upper house to erode a single provision of the Employment Rights Bill, argues ANDY MCDONALD MP

HEAR US OUT: The voices of disabled concerned about assisted dying have to be considered when End of Life Bill enters the final stages of committee scrutiny, March 24 2025
Features / 15 May 2025
15 May 2025

DANIEL GOVER considers the procedural complexities awaiting a Private Member’s Bill in its passage through Commons and Lords