Snooper's Charter back on the table following Conservative victory says Theresa May

The Draft Communications Data Bill - dubbed the Snooper's Charter - will likely be resurrected following the unexpected Conservative victory in the general election.

Following the unexpected victory for the Tories in the general election and the destruction of its former coalition partners the Liberal Democrats, the Home Secretary Theresa May has given a clear indication that she will resurrect the Bill which was thrown out last year following objections by former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg.

May was asked by the BBC what areas the Conservative-led government had been "held-back" by its coalition partners, she said:

"David Cameron has already said and I have said that a Conservative government would be giving the security agencies and law enforcement agencies the powers that they need to ensure that they are keeping up to date as people communicate with data.

"We were prevented from bringing that legislation into parliament in the last government because of the coalition with the Liberal Democrats and we are determined to bring that through because we believe it is what is necessary to maintain the capabilities for our law enforcement agencies such that they can continue to do the excellent job they do day in and day out of keeping us safe and secure."

Surveillance

The draft Communications Data Bill would force Internet service providers and mobile phone networks to maintain records of each user's internet browsing activity, social media activity, email correspondence, voice calls, internet gaming, and mobile phone messaging services and store the records for up to 12 months.

Introduced in the Queen's Speech in 2012, but as a result of negative public reaction and Clegg's opposition it was referred to a Joint Committee who report that while accepted a new law was needed to tackle online security threats, it warned ministers would be able to demand "potentially limitless categories of data" unless the draft bill was amended.

The redrafted Bill was due to come into force in 2014 but Clegg and the Liberal Democrats withdrew support and blocked it being introduced.

In January this year Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans to introduce a "comprehensive piece of legislation" to shut down the "safe spaces" he believes suspected terrorists use to talk to each other online. Among these safe spaces are popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp, iMessage and Snapchat which both offer end-to-end encryption.

Cameron asked at the time: "In our country, do we want to allow a means of communication between people which we cannot read?"