Labour plans new biometric powers after 12,000 duplicate consultation replies

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Labour will put new biometric and facial recognition powers into its Police Reform Bill.

The Home Office boasts more than 13,800 consultation responses. Almost 12,000 were duplicates.

Policing minister Sarah Jones told Parliament on 4 November that the Government will use the Police Reform Bill to create a new statutory framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies in England and Wales. The Home Office also plans complementary rules for private firms that use facial recognition to prevent or detect crime.

The Written Statement (HCWS449) and the accompanying consultation response lean heavily on public “support”. Ministers say the consultation received over 13,800 responses. Look inside the response tables and the picture changes. Of 13,845 fully submitted items, 12,584 arrived by email. Only 588 of those emails were unique. A further 11,996 were identical text or non-consultation messages. The online form produced 1,261 completed replies. That is the evidence ministers cite when they claim a mandate for new powers.

The Bill, when it appears, will do more than tidy existing guidance. It will set specific powers for police and other public bodies to acquire, retain and use biometric material, backed by a statutory Code of Practice. A new independent oversight body will monitor compliance and take enforcement action. The framework will also cover inferential technologies that try to read behaviour or emotion, and overt surveillance tools that identify objects, clothing or vehicles. Ministers say the law will allow the framework to expand to other biometric types later.

For Conservative Post readers, two principles collide. Strong policing tools that catch wanted offenders serve law and order. Expanding the state’s biometric reach, and regulating private-sector crime-prevention cameras in parallel, needs clear limits, published costs and a date when MPs can amend the detail. Labour has announced the destination. It has not yet published the Bill, a full impact assessment, or a firm timetable.

Jones says the new laws will build on the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and improve public confidence as use grows. The Government response confirms that a full impact assessment and a revised equalities impact assessment will arrive only when legislation is brought forward. Until then, Parliament is asked to accept high-level proposals that arrived after a consultation closed on 12 February 2026.

On private-sector use, ministers acknowledge that data protection law already applies. They still intend a Code of Practice for firms using facial recognition for crime prevention and detection, “where this is appropriate”. Retailers and venues that already trial live facial recognition will face a second rulebook written for policing purposes. Free enterprise readers will want to know how far that Code reaches and who pays to comply.

The political question is straightforward. Labour is the Government. If ministers want broader biometric powers, they should bring the Bill, publish the impact assessment, and explain why nearly nine in ten email “responses” were duplicates. Claiming consultation support while recycling identical messages is a weak basis for rewriting how the state, and private firms, scan faces in British streets.

Police already use live and retrospective facial recognition under existing law and College of Policing guidance. Courts have tested parts of that regime. The CP case is not that every camera should be banned. It is that Labour should not dress an announce-stage framework as settled delivery, inflate consultation numbers, and leave MPs without a Bill date or a costed impact assessment.

A strong Conservative opposition question writes itself. Will the Home Secretary confirm how many of the 13,845 counted responses were unique, when the Bill will be introduced, and whether live facial recognition at protests will be restricted or left to the Code of Practice? Until those answers are on the record, the statement is an announce-stage framework dressed as consultation-backed delivery.

Jones placed the response in both Libraries and on GOV.UK. The next test is whether the Police Reform Bill arrives with the powers, the Code, the oversight body and the private-sector rules in one package MPs can amend, or whether another round of statements substitutes for legislation. Until the Bill is published, the honest description is announce, not deliver.

Primary sources: HCWS449 (4 November 2026); Home Office consultation response, New legal framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies (published 4 November 2026).