Sillars: State snooper plan ‘will be the SNP’s poll tax’
THE SNP’s state snooper scheme should be axed before it becomes as unpopular as the poll tax, a former deputy leader of the party has said.
Jim Sillars spoke out following a Supreme Court judgment last week which ruled that key parts of the law underpinning the Named Persons scheme were ‘defective’.
Despite judges ruling that guidance on data-sharing was limited and could breach the European Convention on Human Rights, the SNP has vowed to continue with plans to implement the scheme.
But Mr Sillars told the Mail it could turn into the equivalent of the poll tax – which proved hugely damaging for the Tories.
He said: ‘No matter how much you tinker with the legislation, it’s unacceptable to parents and indeed to grandparents. The fact of the matter is that parents won’t have it – they won’t have instruments of the state intervening in their homes about the upbringing and welfare of their children. The sooner that fact is grasped by the
‘Unacceptable to parents’
Government, the sooner they will realise that the best thing to do is put the policy into permanent cold storage.
‘If they don’t... it will be the SNP’s poll tax, with so many problems associated with it that it will haunt them until the end of this parliament.’
The Mail has revealed that families are set to launch a mass legal action against pilot Named Persons schemes operating in some council areas. Despite the brakes being slammed on the plans, a quarter of children already have a Named Person.
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office has called for a review of all pilot initiatives after insiders said families’ private information had been routinely passed around public bodies. One source said that senior Government officials within the Named Persons project team were aware of the scale of illegal data-sharing.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We aren’t aware of any such practice, as alleged by this anonymous source. Clearly public authorities must comply with the requirements of relevant legislation.’