The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Secretary of State and Minister for Women and Equalities
Home Office
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF

9^th November 2012

Dear Theresa,

Earlier this year I held a Westminster Hall debate about undercover policing that was attended by the Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice at the time, Nick Herbert MP.

I raised a number of concerns, but it is about one in particular that I am writing to you today – the practice of allowing undercover officers to enter long term relationships with those on whom they are spying.

As I am sure you are aware, eight women who had intimate relationships with undercover officers have launched legal action against the Metropolitan Police and are campaigning to expose and end the practice, which they assert is an abuse of human rights going way beyond the kind of intrusion that occurred as part of the News of the World phone hacking scandal. I wholeheartedly agree.

Having already been subjected to gross intrusion into their privacy by the police the women have chosen to protect their identities by remaining anonymous.

However, their stories were recently featured on File on Four, which you can listen to via this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n11x6 I would urge you to do so, as their testimonies are a powerful account of the impact that the undercover officers’ behaviour has had on the women.

It is important to note that none of these women posed any kind of security threat. Whilst I remain personally unconvinced that there are any circumstances under which this kind of violation could be justifiable, I do accept that there are strong arguments relating to terror cases.

But these do not fall into that category and the treatment of these women, one of whom had a child with an undercover officer, is a clear breach of their basic rights.

I am also of the opinion that there is a gender aspect to this debate too; in the majority of cases we know about the officers are male and those being spied upon are women.

During my Westminster Hall debate, Minister Nick Herbert claimed that undercover officers might have to enter into such relationships with their targets in order to build credibility, yet leading police spokespeople have categorically condemned such behaviour.

The current legislation, RIPA, is unclear and support is building for statutory guidance to be introduced and preventing undercover officers from entering into sexual relationships.

I would welcome the opportunity to discuss these cases with you and to seek some clarification on the Government’s position. Thank you for your time and I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas MP, Brighton Pavilion