Surveillance in Britain is not a new concept. From TV shows like Big Brother to Orwell’s 1984 the creation of an omnipresent watchdog has always had a big place in the public’s imagination. But Britain’s history of surveillance and monitoring can be found at the heart of its colonial projects, where scrupulous observation served the purpose of ensuring that any resistance to British rule would be suppressed.

With the advent of technology and overwhelmingly repressive surveillance techniques, we’ve seen the development of a tool of a violent state apparatus that has transformed into unchecked power. The majority of the legislation that we currently have existed pre-Theresa May but escalated under both her leadership of the Home Office and as prime minister, cementing the UK’s “golden age” of surveillance.

Out of the candidates in the running for the Conservative Party leadership, all have consistently voted for mass surveillance of people’s communications and activities, and all but Esther McVey have consistently voted for stronger enforcement of immigration rules. With May now officially out of office, it would be naive to assume that surveillance under any of her predecessors would be anything less than repressive.

Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Show all 9 1 /9 Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Boris Johnson Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has long been hopeful, he previously stood in the leadership contest that followed the Brexit vote and has at many times since been thought to be maneuvering himself towards the goal. He remains a darling of the party's right wing, particularly those in the ERG, and is the most popular choice among Tory voters but his leadership bid would be fiercely opposed by many MPs PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Michael Gove Environment secretary Michael Gove is another member who has long wanted to be leader. He has lately been known for rousing his party in the commons, his recent speeches on the Brexit deal and Labour's no confidence motion have overshadowed the Prime Minister's. He has been loyal to the Prime Minister, partly to shed his reputation as a backstabber who abandoned Boris Johnson to stand against him in the 2016 leadership election Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Dominic Raab Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab has emerged as a favourite to be the Brexiteer candidate in a contest to succeed to Ms May. He displayed a grip on detail in his role as Brexit secretary. When asked recently if he would like to become prime minister he replied "never say never" Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Rory Stewart International development secretary Rory Stewart is pitching himself as the sensible candidate, promising to rule out both a second referendum and a no-deal Brexit. He was only recently promoted to the cabinet, previously serving as prisons minister, where he caught headlines with a pledge to resign if he could not reduce levels of violence within a year PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Esther McVey The former work and pensions secretary announced that she will be standing for the leadership when May leaves. McVey is the first to explicitly state that she intends to stand. She resigned from the cabinet in protest over May's Brexit deal AFP/Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Sajid Javid Home secretary Sajid Javid is said to have a plan in place for a leadership race. He made headlines over Christmas when he declared that people smuggling over the English channel was a "major incident" and more recently when he revoked the citizenship of ISIS bride Shamima Begum. Son of a bus driver, he wants the Conservatives to be seen as the party of social mobility PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Jeremy Hunt Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt was recently thought to be the favourite in the event of a leadership race as he could sell himself as the man to unite the party. Critics worry that his long stint as health secretary could return to haunt him at a general election. He has reportedly been holding meetings with Tory MPs over breakfast to promote his leadership PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Andrea Leadsom Following the Prime Minister's second defeat over her Brexit deal, Leader of the house Andrea Leadsom hosted a dinner party at which "leadership was the only topic of conversation", The Times heard. Leadsom ran against Theresa May in the 2016 leadership election before dropping out, allowing May to become Prime Minister AFP/Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Priti Patel Former international development secretary Priti Patel is thought to be positioning herself as a contender. One MP told The Independent "she knows she's from the right of the party, the part which is going to choose the next leader, so she's reminding everyone she's there." Patel left the government late in 2017 after it emerged that she had held undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials PA

Britain currently has more cameras per person than any country in the world aside from China. With facial recognition technology making its rounds up and down the country, the cementing of the British police state is becoming harder to ignore. Unlike DNA and fingerprints, there aren’t any specific laws that facial recognition breaches or that regulate how the police use the data gathered. In 2018, for example, facial recognition was used in Wales to surveil peaceful protesters at an anti-arms rally, prompting a huge backlash around intrusive surveillance.

It is this danger of being added to a list and being deemed a potential threat that demonstrates what state surveillance has always done: suppressed any form of dissent against the government and encroached on personal freedoms. But there also has to be awareness about the ways that surveillance and this form of biometric data-gathering affect those who have precarious immigration statuses, or, for whatever reason, do not wish to be on a government list. We need to be aware that this disproportionately affects those with the most to lose, as well as the danger of matching people with so-called criminals on watch lists, regardless of whether they are the same person or not.

CCTV has also been drastically escalated throughout the years. In the borough of Hackney, a historically working-class area with a demographic that is predominantly black, Turkish and Kurdish, has been said to have anywhere between 2,182 and 2,900 CCTV cameras for a population of 273,500 (in recent years, Hackney Council has only provided figures for the number of highway and housing estate camera numbers in the borough). When you consider this statistic within a wider scope of CCTV in England, you’ll find that this one borough in London has more CCTV than Bristol, Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Chelmsford and Liverpool collectively. Data collected by these cameras is not always owned by the government, meaning that in addition to being watched constantly, private companies can use and have access to your personal data.

In 2016, the government continued this notion of a benevolent watchdog through the Investigatory Powers Act, or what is known as the “Snooper’s Charter”, which was supposed to introduce transparency to state surveillance, but hasn’t actually done that. The charter allows the government to hack phones, computers and tablets to collect all communications.

But a recent review into the Investigatory Powers Act found that there had been a breach of surveillance safeguards by MI5. Liberty, a human rights group, said that this was a “clear-cut example of how the supposed safeguarding and oversight system is failing to protect us from the excessive and unwarranted surveillance and data-retention powers created under the Snooper’s Charter”. While the Snooper’s Charter is deemed unlawful because this level of mass digital retention lacks adequate safeguards, it still continues to exist as a tool of repressive control.

But these actions that the government has enacted as a form of “protection” only hurt us in the long run and target specific communities. Prevent legislation, passed in 2011, is the best representation of this and has had detrimental effects in Muslim communities.

Introduced as preventing terrorism as part of Britain’s war on terror, the law understands extremist thought as being a “vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs”. Whilst the legislation does discuss terrorism in general terms, it is still heavily focused on Islamic terror as opposed to, say, right-wing extremism.

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It’s moves like these that contribute to the normalisation of Islamophobia. Those who cannot perform “Britishness”, whatever and however that is supposed to look like, become suspects in the wider state apparatus of control. With everyone from lecturers and child carers placed under legal obligation to follow Prevent ruling, the state has effectively put anyone who doesn’t slot into narrow understandings of “British values” in a vulnerable position. Rather than protecting people, what Prevent legislation has done, in reality, is drastically change the relationship between Muslims and the state and contained those from this background in a space of pre-crime.

What we’ve seen in all these cases of extreme surveillance is the push for integration and assimilation. Of ensuring that anyone deemed a potential threat is held at a tight grip. From facial recognition to the hostile environment to Prevent legislation, these attempts to “better society” are in the hands of a police state that cannot be checked or held accountable. Instead, it has fostered an environment of exclusion, repressive social control and violence