Latest news with #superinjunction
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Defence secretary John Healey 'deeply uncomfortable' with government using super-injunction after Afghanistan data breach
The defence secretary has told Sky News he is "deeply uncomfortable" with the government using a super-injunction to keep a massive data breach hidden. Almost 7,000 Afghan nationals as a result of the breach by the British military, with the personal information of close to 20,000 individuals who helped or worked with UK forces being exposed. John Healey told on Breakfast: "I'm really deeply uncomfortable with the idea that a government applies for a super-injunction. "If there are any [other] super-injunctions in place, I just have to tell you - I don't know about them. I haven't been read into them. "The important thing here now is that we've closed the scheme." Mr Healey defended the government's decision to keep secret a huge data leak that put thousands of lives at risk. The defence secretary said when he first came into government, "we had to sort out a situation which we'd not had access to dealing with before". "That meant getting on top of the risks, the intelligence assessments, the policy complexities, the court papers and the range of Afghan relocation schemes the previous government had put in place," he said. "And it also meant taking decisions that no one takes lightly because lives may be at stake." Read more: Mr Healey added that an independent review he launched says that it is now "highly unlikely that being a name on this data set that was lost three-and-a-half years ago increases the risk of being targeted", which is why the whole leak can be revealed. Ministers have to account for applying for a super-injunction Challenged on why it could not be revealed earlier if those on the list are no longer at risk, Mr Healey said the super-injunction "was a matter for the court". He said ministers needed to provide judges with a "fresh assessment" in order to have the super-injunction lifted. Mr Healey also refused to criticise the former Conservative defence minister Ben Wallace for initially applying for the super-injunction, saying he did not know what information the minister had when he took the decision. "But the important thing is they now have to account for those decisions," he added. The defence secretary was asked about who exactly is responsible for the massive data leak that is estimated to have cost millions of pounds. Mr Healey responded that he is "not going to launch a witch hunt or point the finger at him". It follows former veterans minister Johnny Mercer writing publicly that he claims to know the person responsible. Challenged on whether it is not a "witch hunt", but accountability, Mr Healey hit back. He said: "This goes much bigger than the mistaken actions of a single individual. My job as defence secretary, a year ago, was to get on top of the problems that I inherited." Mr Healey explained this is why he launched an independent review and the super-injunction ended, which means the leak and the subsequent scheme to bring those at risk to the UK can now face "proper scrutiny and accountability".
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Defence secretary John Healey 'deeply uncomfortable' with government using super-injunction after Afghanistan data breach
The defence secretary has told Sky News he is "deeply uncomfortable" with the government using a super-injunction to keep a massive data breach hidden.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Sir Ben Wallace doesn't know why Afghan superinjunction was imposed
Sir Ben Wallace said his government did not initially apply for a superinjunction to block reporting of a massive data leak relating to Afghan soldiers and he did not know why it had been granted. The then defence secretary said the original application from the Tory government was for a four-month injunction to stop the media from disclosing the details of the leak. But he said that this regular injunction was subsequently upgraded to a superinjunction but he was unaware of the reasons why. He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: 'We went to court seeking a four month injunction to be placed on the reporting of this leak. 'Many of these injunctions are constantly having to be refreshed and between now and back then on numerous occasions government lawyers would have been going back to the court justifying the reason for this. 'I am afraid I was not in court on the 1st of September, I had actually handed over. I don't know why Justice Knowles at the time converted that to a superinjunction. It wasn't what our application was.' The original application for the injunction was made in August 2023 after the Ministry of Defence became aware of the leak. It was revealed yesterday when the superinjunction was lifted that a dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released 'in error' in February 2022 by a defence official. That prompted the government to set up a secret Afghan relocation scheme to help the victims amid fears they could have been targeted by the Taliban.
Sky News
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Defence Secretary John Healey 'deeply uncomfortable' with government using super-injunction after Afghanistan data breach
The defence secretary has told Sky News he is "deeply uncomfortable" with the government using a super-injunction to keep a massive data breach hidden. Almost 7,000 Afghan nationals are being relocated to the UK as a result of the breach by the British military, with the personal information of close to 20,000 individuals who helped or worked with UK forces being exposed. John Healey told Matt Barbet on Breakfast: "I'm really deeply uncomfortable with the idea that a government applies for a super-injunction. "If there are any [other] super-injunctions in place, I just have to tell you - I don't know about them. I haven't been read into them. "The important thing here now is that we've closed the scheme." Mr Healey defended the government's decision to keep secret a huge data leak that put thousands of lives at risk. The defence secretary said when he first came into government, "we had to sort out a situation which we'd not had access to dealing with before". "That meant getting on top of the risks, the intelligence assessments, the policy complexities, the court papers and the range of Afghan relocation schemes the previous government had put in place," he said. "And it also meant taking decisions that no one takes lightly because lives may be at stake." Mr Healey added that an independent review he launched says that it is now "highly unlikely that being a name on this data set that was lost three-and-a-half years ago increases the risk of being targeted", which is why the whole leak can be revealed. Ministers have to account for applying for a super-injunction Challenged on why it could not be revealed earlier if those on the list are no longer at risk, Mr Healey said the super-injunction "was a matter for the court". He said ministers needed to provide judges with a "fresh assessment" in order to have the super-injunction lifted. Mr Healey also refused to criticise the former Conservative defence minister Ben Wallace for initially applying for the super-injunction, saying he did not know what information the minister had when he took the decision. "But the important thing is they now have to account for those decisions," he added. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
Sky News
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Who will take the fall for the Afghan cover-up?
👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne's on your podcast app👈 Now details of the enormous accidental data breach by a British soldier that put thousands of Afghans' lives at risk can be discussed publicly - Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy try to address some of the biggest questions on this episode. Why did the government break the glass on using a super-injunction? Has anyone been sacked? Why did the Labour government keep the super-injunction in place for so long?
