Prime Minister David Cameron has made a drastic decision to push for new powers so that law officials may access the details of every digital conversation, including mobile phones and social media. He said he realises this would be “intrusive” but felt the government would be justified, especially after the events in Paris where 17 people were killed by the now apprehended Islamist terrorists.
Following the Charlie Hebdo incident, Cameron stated: “The first duty of any government is to keep our country and people safe. The attacks in Paris once again demonstrated the scale of the terrorist threat we face and the need to have robust powers, through our security and intelligence agencies and policing in order to keep our people safe.” He has also said he wants to stop terrorists from retreating to “a safe space” to communicate. However there has been opposition in the coalition polity with Lib-dem MPs opposing an 'extremis' extension of power. Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat Justice Minister said: "the idea that you protect free speech by spying on every law-abiding person in this country is a contradiction in terms. You can't have an open society if you are constantly worried that the state is prying into your daily life." He stated that the idea of an unrestricted 'Snoopers' Charter' that Cameron plans to introduce if he is re-elected, will have to be 'necessary' and 'justified': "The so-called Snoopers' Charter, which would see the internet browsing of every single citizen stored for a year, fails these very reasonable precautions."
Cameron was also briefed last week about threat levels reaching a critical state in the UK with security officials warning that there could be a lash-back from up to 150 Jihadists in attacks similar to those in Paris.Border control were warned to be thorough with their illegal firearm searches with warnings that up to 50% of extremists who had returned from Syria would be capable of assaults such as those on the French publishing house. Whitehall members also state that more than 30 IS fighters in the UK are being monitored by MI5 while a further 120 are going to be re-assessed despite passing previous inspections.
Opposition leader Ed Miliband has commented that he was wary about supporting new disciplinary powers where security services would need to have the proper tools in place for a proper system of oversight. Lord Carlile, Lib Dem peer who was an objective reviewer for the terrorism legislation, stated: “We must make sure that the security services and the police have adequate powers ... so that the authorities can take action against people they reasonably suspect of a terrorist intent.”
