The UK Parliament today cleared an emergency legislation enabling the British police to access the phone and internet use records of communication companies, and the legislation is set to become a law.
Peers or the Members of the House of Lords approved the 'Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill' after two consecutive days of debate. The bill had already won House of Commons' backing.
Ministers said that the bill needed to be rushed through to maintain the state's existing powers, after a European Court of Justice ruling in April that stated that such a directive infringed privacy.
The critics had demanded more time to debate the measures.
UK home secretary Theresa May had said, "If we delay the legislation, police operations will go dark, trails will go cold and terrorist plots will go undetected. If that happens, innocent lives may be lost."
The Opposition Labour party supported the bill but criticised the timetable for its passage through the Parliament.
It also urged that the Interception of Communications Commissioner should be required to report every six months on how the new law is working and whether it genuinely has not conferred more powers on the security services, a request that the government agreed to.
