The Labour Party has reported allegations of data breaches in the party’s leadership election to the Information Commissioner.
The party acted after the BBC reports that members of Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership campaign team had been accused of hacking into Labour’s membership database.
It has also written to all the leadership contenders – Sir Keir, Lisa Nandy, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Emily Thornberry – to warn against any misuse of membership data and party systems.
Sir Keir’s team rejected the allegations.
A Labour Party spokesman said: “The Labour Party takes its legal responsibilities for data protection – and the security and integrity of its data and systems – extremely seriously.
“We have written to all leadership candidates to remind them of their obligations under the law and to seek assurances that membership data will not be misused.”
A spokesman for Sir Keir said: “We categorically reject these nonsensical allegations and are incredibly disappointed that they have been leaked to the media.
“We are still awaiting the party’s formal response to the serious concerns we and others had about access to Labour Party membership data.”
Former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer said: “It is a pumped-up allegation given to the media straight away rather than... any attempt to investigate the truth.
“It really, honestly, makes me think, as a long term Labour member, that we really need to make sure that you can trust the organisation of the Labour Party.”
The Information Commissioner’s Office was set up to act as an independent body tasked with safeguarding information rights.
Agencies contributed to this story
