Search Results for 'defty'
Improvements in turnout and more partisan voting: The consequences of embedding PCC elections in the electoral cycle
The first Police and Crime Commissioner elections in 2012 are infamous for their abysmally low turnout and the second batch last week thankfully saw some improvement. In this post, Andrew Defty looks at the variation in turnout across the 40 PCC elections to consider the impact of embedding the elections in the electoral cycle, and […]
How democratically accountable are the UK’s security and intelligence services?
As part of the 2017 Audit of UK Democracy, Sean Kippin and the DA team assess the ways in which the UK’s four main security services are scrutinised, to ensure that they are operating legally and in the public interest. For matters that must be kept secret, ‘compromise’ forms of scrutiny have now been developed in Parliament. […]
Proper scrutiny must not be set aside in Britain’s response to the attacks in Paris
The shocking events in Paris have jolted Western governments into action, with the UK’s Conservative government seeking to increase and enhance security measures to prevent a similar occurrence happening in Britain. Part of their approach has been to announce the forthcoming introduction of new laws to assist the security services surveillance powers – a move […]
Fewer and older: Consequences of the decline in party membership in the UK
Recent years have seen an increase in membership of some of the smaller parties but this has not compensated for the overall decline in party membership across the UK. Andrew Defty considers the implications of this, from the reduced revenues to the key role played by party activists. Similar PostsEuro elections – previewing the election in […]
Andrew Parker’s BBC interview shows continuing weaknesses in how UK security services are scrutinised
Last month, MI5 Director General Andrew Parker appeared on BBC Radio 4 to make the case for intelligence agency powers in advance of the forthcoming Investigatory Powers Bill. Andrew Defty argues that while new surveillance legislation is needed, a robust regulatory framework will also be required to produce effective intelligence and a more secure society. […]
The delay in appointing a new Intelligence and Security Committee threatens to undermine its work before it has even begun
In February of this year, the then-Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) – the body which oversees the UK’s three main intelligence agencies – was caught in a journalistic sting operation. Since then, the ISC seems to have been inactive. It is now two months since the General Election and the Government (who […]
It is time to adopt a different approach to appointing members of the Intelligence and Security Committee
The Intelligence and Security Committee which oversees Britain’s Security Services (MI5, SIS, and GCHQ) has come under sustained scrutiny for its perceived reluctance to exert scrutiny over those it is tasked with watching. Andrew Defty argues that recent events show the need to change the appointments procedure in order to buck the trend of appointing […]
If the Intelligence and Security Committee is to be an effective scrutineer, it must be able to rely on the accuracy of the information provided by the security services
Recent events at the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), the Parliamentary body tasked with holding MI5, MI6, and GCHQ to account, have shown the difficulty of knowing fully the activities of these organisations. Andrew Defty explores the possibility that representatives from GCHQ may have recently given a misleading impression to the ISC. Similar PostsNot all scrutiny […]
Recent events at the Intelligence and Security Committee make it increasingly difficult to justify the current arrangements for scrutinising the security services
The Intelligence and Security Committee is the only parliamentary body tasked with overseeing the work of Britain’s intelligence services, and has come under sustained criticism following revelations about the scale of surveillance that these bodies carry out. Andrew Defty argues that an alleged recent ‘leak’ from the committee could make it difficult to sustain the argument that the […]
Ends and means: experts debate the democratic oversight of the UK’s intelligence services
Revelations from Edward Snowden about the scope of intelligence activities in the UK have led to renewed attempts to enhance democratic oversight of the UK’s security services. The heads of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ appeared before the Intelligence and Security Committee for the first time, while Lord Macdonald called for strengthened parliamentary accountability. In this post, we ask […]
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