Today the UK Parliament will meet for its second reading of the Investigatory Powers Bill, offering members of parliament the chance to debate the bill’s updated text and decide whether it should be progressed to committee stage.

CEO of the Web Foundation Anne Jellema said:

“Three separate Parliamentary committees have slammed the Bill for its lack of clarity, and a recent poll shows only 12 per cent of the British public feel the Bill’s impacts have been properly explained. We question whether MPs can really be any better informed at this stage. Unless they are ready to put hands on hearts to say they have mastered over 500 pages of highly complex technical material in the past 10 days, they owe it to the British public to reject the government’s proposed timeline and insist on more time for informed debate. Proper parliamentary scrutiny is vital for a piece of legislation that everyone – from the private sector to human rights experts to Parliament’s own intelligence and security committee – has warned will have far-reaching implications for Britain’s future.”

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