UK spy agencies get budget rises despite new austerity

Iran Press TV

Wed Jun 26, 2013 9:18PM GMT

Spy agencies are the biggest winners of the British government’s new multi-billion-pound austerity plans, getting a higher-than-inflation annual increase to their combined £1.9 billion budget.

Based on the new budget proposals unveiled by Chancellor George Osborne on Wednesday, spy agencies MI5 and MI6 as well as eavesdropping agency the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) will get budget rises equal to annual inflation plus three percent from 2015.

The three will effectively receive the biggest rises of any government department including the health service and the education sectors.

The ring fencing of the spy agencies spending comes as Osborne also announced an equal-to-inflation annual rise in the counter-terrorism police budget.

This is while the spy agencies have recently faced severe criticism over abuse of their power.

Recent revelations showed that GCHQ has been illegally tapping fiber optic cables carrying global internet communications and the police have been spying on 9,000 campaigners, described as “domestic extremists”, while many of them have no criminal record.

AMR/HE