Freedom News
Exclusive: Braverman tried to curtail Spycops inquiry

Exclusive: Braverman tried to curtail Spycops inquiry

FOIA request reveals Home Office attempted to change terms of reference, as campaigners warn of “impossibly tight schedule” for proper disclosure

~ Scott Harris ~

A Freedom of Information Act request reveals that Conservative Home Secretary Suella Braverman attempted to curtail the Undercover Policing Inquiry. The Undercover Research Group has obtained an exchange of letters between the Inquiry Chair, Sir John Mitting, and the Home Secretary—Braverman and then James Cleverly in 2023. Following a meeting in May 2023 to discuss costs and timescales of the long running inquiry, Braverman proposed changes to its terms of reference.

These changes would have removed the Inquiry’s focus on the effect of undercover operations on individuals and the public in general, to simply considering their impact more broadly. Rather than the comprehensive, deployment-by-deployment review the Inquiry had committed to, the minsters wanted it to switch to a “sampling method”. They also sought to remove reference to undercover work other than by the political policing units, the SDS and NPOIU.

It appears that Mitting pushed back on this, agreeing instead that the Inquiry would report back at the end of 2026 and come in at a budget of £139.1 million. He put his commitment to these timescales and budget in writing to the Home Office.

The revelations have upset victims of the spycop units, who had never previously heard of the attempt. Although the terms of reference remained untouched, those giving evidence on police abuses say they have felt the incredible pressure of delayed disclosure and ridiculously tight deadlines to get responses back to the Inquiry.

“With years squandered protecting the police abusers, the fear is that the cost of this pressure from the Tory government is being born by the victims”, said Donal O’Driscoll of the Undercover Research Group. “The majority are still to receive disclosure and despite the 2026 deadline, it is already delaying things again”.

The current Tranche 2 hearings have taken months longer than planned, and recently it was announced that Tranche 3 would be delayed from April to at least June 2025, but no actual date given. Those in Tranche 4, which covers 1999-2010, the era of Mark Kennedy and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit, are increasingly worried that whatever they ever hear may be “rammed into an impossibly tight schedule and descend into further farce”, said O’Driscoll.

When contacted, the Home Office of the new Labour government responded saying it was important that the Inquiry remained operationally independent. Campaigners hope this is a sign that the new regime is washing its hands of Braverman’s attempts. Given how many in the Labour government were themselves spied upon (including the Prime Minister), the new ministers may also prefer proper answers to having their needs discarded in a rush to finish.


Photo: FMT CC BY 4.0

Discover more from Freedom News

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading