Ministers in the UK's last Conservative government have "serious questions to answer" over a secret resettlement plan for thousands of Afghans after a data breach endangered their lives, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Wednesday.
Parliamentary Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said the affair raised significant constitutional issues" after it emerged that the previous government had obtained a court order banning media coverage and preventing any scrutiny by parliament.
Thousands of Afghans who worked with the UK and their families have been brought to Britain under the programme following the leak.
But the 2022 breach and the resettlement plan to protect those involved from potential repercussions only came to light on Tuesday after a court super-gag was lifted.
Defence Minister John Healey told parliament a UK official had accidentally leaked a spreadsheet containing the names and details of almost 19,000 Afghans who had asked to be relocated to Britain.
It happened in February 2022, just six months after Taliban fighters seized Kabul, he said.
In parliament Wednesday, Starmer said his government supported the principle of fulfilling "our obligations to Afghans who served alongside British forces" in the post 9/11 conflict in the South Asian country.
Healey had "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", he added.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ