Tory ex-ministers have "serious questions to answer" about the Afghan data leak which resulted in an £850 million secret relocation scheme and an unprecedented legal gagging order, Sir Keir Starmer said. The Prime Minister hit out at the Conservatives over the "major data breach" which saw a defence official release details of almost 19,000 people seeking to flee Afghanistan after the return of the Taliban.
Thousands of people are being relocated to the UK as part of a scheme set up after the breach which was kept secret as the result of a superinjunction imposed in 2023 which was only lifted on Tuesday. At Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir said: "We warned in opposition about Conservative management of this policy and yesterday, the Defence Secretary set out the full extent of the failings that we inherited: a major data breach, a superinjunction, a secret route that has already cost hundreds of millions of pounds."
Speaker raises constitutional concerns
He added: "Ministers who served under the party opposite have serious questions to answer about how this was ever allowed to happen." Sir Keir suggested the Conservatives should "welcome" scrutiny from the Commons Defence Committee.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said: "This episode raises significant constitutional issues." Downing Street later declined to say what questions former ministers should face but said Sir Keir was "angry" about the breach.
Prime Minister's anger revealed
Sir Keir's press secretary said: "The Prime Minister is angry at such a terrible breach that had such grave consequences being allowed to happen. Which is why it's clear that there are questions that need to be answered by Conservative ministers who, in their own words, have talked about the ineptitude of the Conservative government at the time."
She also pointed to comments from former veterans minister Johnny Mercer, who described the handling of the breach as "farcical" and "the most hapless display of incompetence by successive ministers and officials that I saw in my time in government". The Commons Defence Committee will be setting out plans for an inquiry straight after the parliamentary recess in September.
Parliamentary inquiry planned
Committee chairman Tan Dhesi said: "These shocking events now deserve proper, thorough parliamentary scrutiny to ensure that lessons are learned. I have consulted my cross-party colleagues on the Defence Committee and we all agree that this is work we intend to lead."
Tory former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace said he makes "no apology" for applying for the initial injunction and insisted it was "not a cover-up" but was motivated by the need to protect people in Afghanistan whose safety was at risk. A dataset of 18,714 who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released in February 2022 by a defence official who emailed a file outside authorised government systems.
Ministry unaware for months
The Ministry of Defence only became aware of the blunder when excerpts from the dataset were posted anonymously on a Facebook group in August 2023, and a superinjunction was granted at the High Court in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak. Then defence secretary Sir Ben said he had applied for a four-month standard injunction shortly before leaving office but on September 1 2023, when Grant Shapps took the role, the Government was given a superinjunction.
Sir Ben said he did not know why the superinjunction was granted "but nevertheless, I think the point here is I took a decision that the most important priority was to protect those people who could have been or were exposed by this data leak in Afghanistan, living amongst the Taliban who had no regard for their safety, or indeed potentially could torture them or murder them", he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He also defended his actions in an article in the Telegraph, saying: "I make no apology for applying to the court for an injunction at the time. It was not, as some are childishly trying to claim, a cover-up."
Secret relocation scheme created
The leak led to the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme - the Afghanistan Response Route - in April 2024. The scheme is understood to have cost around £400 million so far, with a projected final cost of about £850 million.
A total of around 6,900 people are expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme. The official responsible for the email error was moved to a new role but not sacked.
Defence Secretary defends approach
Defence Secretary John Healey said he was not going to "lead a witch hunt after a defence official". "This is much bigger than the mistake of an individual," he told the BBC.
The superinjunction was in place for almost two years, covering Labour and Conservative governments. Kemi Badenoch has said sorry on behalf of the Conservatives for the leak, telling LBC: "On behalf of the government and on behalf of the British people, yes, because somebody made a terrible mistake and names were put out there… and we are sorry for that."
Thousands at potential risk
Between 80,000 and 100,000 people, including the estimated number of family members of the Arap applicants, were affected by the breach and could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their data, judges said in June 2024. However, an independent review, commissioned by the Government in January 2025, concluded last month that the dataset is "unlikely to significantly shift Taliban understanding of individuals who may be of interest to them".
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
