Conservative Party: Tories ‘illegally’ profiled ethnicity and religion of 10 million voters, says information commissioner

The Conservative Party had “no legal basis” to collect data from millions of UK voters, according to the head of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Elizabeth Denham CBE, revealed to members of the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee on Tuesday that the ICO had instructed the Tories to destroy the data it had collected from more than ten million voters.

Responding to a question from SNP MP, John Nicolson, Ms Denham said religion and ethnicity are both “special category data” that require a higher standard for a legal basis to collect.

“Ethnicity is not an acceptable collection of data.

“There isn’t a legal basis that allows for the collection of that data,” she added.

It comes after the UK Government’s Data Minister, John Whittingdale MP, last year denied that the Information Commissioner had found any breaches of the law in Tory Party practices.

In December 2020, Mr Whittingdale, Minister for Media and Data told MPs on the floor of the House of Commons that the “Information Commissioner examined the practices of all political parties and made comments against all of them.

“However, it did not find that any breaches of the law had occurred.”

The Conservative Party had “no legal basis” to collect data from millions of UK voters, according to the head of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). (Photo by PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)

Commenting, John Nicolson MP called the racial and religious profiling of voters “morally and ethically abhorrent”.

“We now know from the Information Commissioner that it was also illegal,” he said.

“Conservative Minister, John Whittingdale, told me on the floor of the Commons that his party had not broken the law. That is wrong.

“I will be writing to him to ask that he withdraw his false claim, acknowledge that the Tories’ ethnic profiling was illegal, and undertake not to break the law again.”

It comes after the UK Government’s Data Minister, John Whittingdale MP, last year denied that the Information Commissioner had found any breaches of the law in Tory Party practices. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Mr Whittingdale has been contacted for comment.

A spokesperson for the Conservative Party would not say whether Scottish voters had been among the 10 million it collected data from.

They told the Scotsman: “The Conservative Party complies with all prevailing electoral, data protection and electronic marketing legislation.

“The Party has assisted the Information Commissioner in its review of political parties’ practices and have taken on board the constructive feedback from the review.”

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