Yesterday I attended a roundtable to discuss the Government’s plans to allow HMRC to sell the information it holds on us.  Lots of constituents had asked me to go and to object on their behalf to the proposals - I was happy to do so.

We heard from 3 key campaigners on the subject, who outlined what exactly the Government is planning and then set out the main concerns. Ministers are seeking to downplay the risks, including by stressing the all data would be anonymised. But I don’t think this is good enough. We all know how easy it is for leaks to happen and I specifically asked whether the HMRC plans were permissible under existing data protection legislation.

The Government is arguing that anonymising our tax records before selling them would keep HMRC within the data protection rules. However, MPs were told that it’s impossible to guarantee someone’s personal details wouldn’t be accidentally shared. We agreed, therefore, that it’s crucial to challenge any idea that the proposals are compatible with existing data protection rules, and to fight off any potential subsequent attempts to water down these rules.

What’s more, even if anonymity could be guaranteed, I still find the principle behind the proposal unacceptable.

At the meeting yesterday, we heard, for example, that there are no criteria governing who could and couldn’t buy our tax records – the assumption is, therefore, that they’d simply go to the highest bidder. Nor do we know if they could be sold on to a further party or whether there would be any restrictions on their use.

Ministers are also claiming that the plans are the result of a G8 initiative, whilst failing to point out that it’s an initiative they started and are driving through. Moreover, two of the G8 nations, namely the US and Germany, have constitutions in place which protect their citizens from having their data used for commercial gain like this.

Perhaps the strongest message from the meeting was that the Government needs to realise this is OUR data we are talking about, and it’s just on loan to them. They seem to be under the illusion they own it and that simply isn’t the case.