The creation of a ‘new elite police unit’ to monitor social media for anti-migrant hotel protests has been condemned as “sinister” by Nigel Farage. The National Internet Intelligence Investigations team is being set up by the Home Office amid a series of protests outside migrant hotels and concerns the UK could face a summer of disorder, per reports.
Political opponents, including the Reform UK leader, have hit out at the Government over the new police squad. Mr Farage claimed it “is the beginning of the state controlling free speech”. He described the plans as “dangerous and must be fought”.
However, the Home Office told the Daily Express that these allegations are “completely untrue.”
A spokesperson said: “These claims are completely untrue. This new capability is not about monitoring what people say on their social media feeds, it is about equipping our police forces to respond more rapidly to the needs of the communities they serve, and enabling them to react in an agile way to real-time information about incidents and emergencies affecting those communities.
“As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, we are restoring visible, neighbourhood policing, focused on the public’s priorities, including halving knife crime and violence against women, clamping down on theft and anti-social behaviour, and ensuring that people can feel safe in their own high streets.”
“Reform UK will do just that,” he told The Telegraph.
The National Internet Intelligence Investigations team will include detectives from across the country, according to the newspaper.
The unit will work out of the National Police Coordination Centre (NPoCC) in Westminster and will “maximise social media intelligence” to quickly identify signs of potential civil unrest.
It comes after forces were criticised for their response to the riots last year and growing concerns that further disruption could take place on the streets this summer.
Several protests were held outside migrant hotels on Saturday, while a further demonstration is expected outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, on Sunday.
The Conservatives also slammed Labour’s move to sniff out anti-migrant posts on social media.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told The Telegraph: “Two-tier Keir can’t police the streets, so he’s trying to police opinions instead. They’re setting up a central team to monitor what you post, what you share, what you think, because deep down they know the public don’t buy what they’re selling.
“Labour have stopped pretending to fix Britain and started trying to mute it. This is a Prime Minister who’s happy to turn Britain into a surveillance state, but won’t deport foreign criminals, won’t patrol high streets, won’t fund frontline policing.
He added: “Labour are scared of the public, Labour don’t trust the public, Labour don’t even know the public.”
Details of the plans emerged in a letter to MPs from Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson.
Responding to an inquiry by a Commons committee into the police’s handling of last summer’s riots, she said the new unit will provide a “national capability to monitor social media intelligence”.
“This will be a dedicated function at a national level for exploiting internet intelligence to help local forces manage public safety threats and risks,” the minister added.
Rebecca Vincent, the interim director of civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch, said the plans are “disturbing”.
The Express has contacted the Home Office for a comment.
