Government admits spying on MPs’ emails was unlawful

Green Party politicians demand ‘public confession’ after settlement reached in European Court of Human Rights

The GCHQ building in Cheltenham (GCHQ/PA) (PA Media)

The British government has admitted that spying on MPs’ communications by security services was unlawful.

A settlement was reached at the European Court of Human Rights following a seven-year legal battle that was sparked by Edward Snowden’s leaks on global surveillance programmes.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and peer Baroness Jenny Jones, who brought the case, called for a “public confession” that the blanket surveillance of parliamentary communications was both wrong and illegal.