Home Office consultation into spycops inquiry is attempt to shut it down, campaigners say

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Non-state core participants in the spycops inquiry claim police obstruction, a biased questionnaire, a history of interference and a direct conflict of interest, saying it looks like a state cover-up.

Ahead of the Home Office’s own consultation report, the Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance (Cops) published an analysis of 2,690 letters sent by stakeholders and members of the public, after survivors urged allies to boycott the official survey and write directly to the Home Office instead.

The report found unanimous opposition to curtailing the inquiry, with calls for it to be completed to ensure the police malpractice exposed never happens again.

Ben Leamy of Cops said: “I believe the consultation is a sham, a pretext. “The decisions ministers will make off the back of it will have significant implications for state transparency and accountability.

“We are publishing this report because we do not trust the Home Office to accurately represent the views expressed.”

The letters highlight that the questionnaire offered no option to support the inquiry continuing under its original terms of reference, instead forcing respondents to answer multiple-choice questions geared towards choosing which parts of the inquiry could be discarded.

Dave Morris, a core participant, said: “The police spent five years trying to sabotage this inquiry…

“Now ministers want to cite those self-inflicted delays and costs as an excuse to shut it down before it examines modern political policing.

“It is vital that this policing scandal is fully exposed and never allowed to happen again.

“Allowing police to escape accountability simply by making an inquiry too slow and expensive sets a dangerous precedent.��

Core participants have written to ministers and Andy Burnham calling on the government to support state candour for victims and uphold the spirit of the Hillsborough Law.

“Lisa” from Police Spies Out of Lives said: “There is a conflict of interest at the heart of this review, because the Home Office is itself a subject of investigation…

“The Home Office Minister, Lord Hanson of Flint, was Policing and Security Minister in 2009. He had oversight of the covert unit that was deceiving me into an intimate relationship.

“Letting a minister decide whether operations on his own watch will be investigated can’t be right.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The historic failings in undercover policing continue to shock the public. We are determined to get justice and hold those responsible to account.

“However, the Undercover Policing Inquiry was set up more than a decade ago and has yet to deliver answers for those affected, despite significant cost to the taxpayer.

“Before making decisions about its future, we want to hear from the people most affected.”

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