CAMPAIGNERS have accused the government of slipping amendments into the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill that grant welfare surveillance powers.
The amendments will enable the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to spy on the bank accounts of anyone receiving benefits, according to the Open Rights Group.
The targets could include the 12.6 million people on the state pension, as well as those who claim child benefit, universal credit and disability living allowance.
As a proportion of GDP the total welfare bill is lower than it was 15 years ago. The claim that it is spiralling out of control is mythmaking, argues DIANE ABBOTT
The greatest threat to democracy may no longer come from political parties but from unelected tech oligarchs like Peter Thiel and his powerful Silicon Valley network, argues JOHN GREEN
Plans to delay access to the universal credit health element until age 22 have triggered fierce opposition from disabled people’s groups, who warn it would deepen poverty and entrench discrimination against young disabled people under the guise of ‘encouraging work.’ DYLAN MURPHY reports
Digital ID means the government could track anyone and then limit their speech, movements, finances — and it could get this all wrong, identifying the wrong people for the wrong reasons, as the numerous digital cockups so far demonstrate, warns DYLAN MURPHY



