The debate in Parliament today dealt with important steps to put on a statutory footing the actions of covert human intelligence sources in addressing crimes like terrorism and child sexual exploitation, whilst improving the safeguards around this.

Of course if this were a Labour Bill, it would look materially different and our amendments show some of the ways that would be the case. However, the Bill takes this out of the shadows and is an important improvement on the unacceptable status quo.

That is why we did not vote against the Bill today. The safeguards around the Human Rights Act and oversight by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner are vital, but we will continue to push for further changes on the Bill in the Lords.