MP takes on MI5

LEWES MP Norman Baker has won a major test case against the Government under the Data Protection Act the first such case ever heard.

A tribunal announced this week at the High Court that it had quashed a certificate issued by the previous Home Secretary Jack Straw to prevent Mr Baker from gaining access to information held on him by MI5.

Mr Baker believes the organisation may hold information in respect of the time when he was involved with peaceful environmental protest groups during the 1980s.

This is a landmark judgement and an important step in holding the Secret Services to account, he said.

It establishes the principle that MI5 is subject to data protection legislation.

The blanket exemption given to them by Jack Straw has been judged to be inappropriate.

The judgement makes it clear that each application for information should be treated on its merits, and that where information is held on an individual, that can be revealed where such information is not harmful to national security.

If information is held on me, it must be harmless as I certainly have done nothing that could threaten national security.

Under those circumstances, I would expect the Government to comply with the spirit of the ruling and now allow me access to any file held on me by MI5.

Mr Baker said he felt it was entirely appropriate to test the limits to which information on individuals can be held without those individuals knowing.

And he added: I think it is important that we have established a principle.

The data protection legislation applies to the security services as it does to any other organisation run by the State that holds information on an individual.

This is a welcome victory for the individual against the State.