Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee has produced a report into Russian interference in UK politics, but it cannot be published without government approval. In a blog originally posted by Democratic Audit Andrew Defty explains that Number 10’s failure to release the report before Parliament was dissolved is the latest in a series of government actions that have hindered effective parliamentary scrutiny of the intelligence and security services. Reform to ensure the committee has greater independence from executive obstruction should be considered in the next Parliament.
Tag: Intelligence and Security Committee
It is two years since the Intelligence and Security Committee published its report into UK lethal drone strikes in Syria. Despite a commitment to ‘respond substantively to any report by the ISC within 60 days’ the government has yet to produce a detailed reply to this report. Andrew Defty examines the government’s record in responding to ISC reports and the changing nature of its commitment to doing so. This blog was originally posted on Democratic Audit and is reposted with permission.
What’s happened to the Intelligence and Security Committee? In a new blog, based on his paper at our Legislatures in Uncertain Times conference, Andrew Defty, University of Lincoln, discusses delays, a reduced public presence, and decreasing powers, and questions whether the ISC is in decline.