Daily: Inside the SPYCOPS bill

The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill known as SpyCops is one of the most controversial pieces of legislation before Parliament – and the Labour Party is only timidly opposing it. Is a bill that permits state agents to break the law defensible? Where do we draw the line? Scottish Labour MSP Neil Findlay explains why he’s campaigning against the CHIS Bill, where Keir Starmer is falling short, and the deeper background of the Undercover Policing Inquiry into 40 years of undercover surveillance. 

• “We’ve seen appalling crimes committed against ordinary people by agents of the state… ”
• “There’s no fascist groups on the list, no extreme right groups. Everyone investigated is on the Left.”
• “In Scotland we had the police investigating the police. Surprise surprise, they found there’s nothing to see here, guv.”
• “To raise a child and then discover that the father wasn’t who you thought they were… Some of these women consider that they’d been raped by the State.” 
• “How did a union activist know their phone was being tapped? They wouldn’t pay the bill for two years and never got cut off…”

Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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