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A mass snooping regime that was pioneered by Theresa May has been ruled unlawful today by the Court of Appeal.

Today's ruling is a victory for human rights group Liberty and Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson, who began court action more than three years ago.

Their complaint focused on the highly controversial 2014 Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA), overseen by then-Home Secretary Mrs May in a bid to fight terror and serious crime.

Liberty said the Act forced communications firms to store mobile phone locations and email, text, phone call and internet records of innocent people – including MPs, lawyers, doctors and journalists.

Embarrassingly for Mrs May the original complaint had included campaigning Tory MP David Davis - who is now her Brexit Secretary. He was not part of today's judgement.

(Image: AFP) (Image: Phil Harris/Daily Mirror) (Image: PA)

Today three of the highest judges in the land said DRIPA was "inconsistent with EU law", unless used to fight serious crime, or if individual cases were approved by independent experts or a court.

Elements of DRIPA have already been updated in the later Investigatory Powers Act following previous defeats in the High Court and European Court of Justice.

Labour MP Mr Watson said: "This legislation was flawed from the start.

"It was rushed through Parliament just before recess without proper parliamentary scrutiny.

"The Government must now bring forward changes to the Investigatory Powers Act to ensure that hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom are innocent victims or witnesses to crime, are protected by a system of independent approval for access to communications data.

"I’m proud to have played my part in safeguarding citizens' fundamental rights."

(Image: Moment RM)

Martha Spurrier, Liberty’s Director, said: “Yet again a UK court has ruled the Government’s extreme mass surveillance regime unlawful.

"This judgment tells ministers in crystal clear terms that they are breaching the public’s human rights.

"The latest incarnation of the Snoopers’ Charter, the Investigatory Powers Act, must be changed.

“No politician is above the law. When will the Government stop bartering with judges and start drawing up a surveillance law that upholds our democratic freedoms?"

Security Minister Ben Wallace said: "Communications data is used in the vast majority of serious and organised crime prosecutions and has been used in every major Security Service counter-terrorism investigation over the last decade. It is often the only way to identify paedophiles involved in online child abuse as it can be used to find where and when these horrendous crimes have taken place.

"This judgment relates to legislation which is no longer in force and, crucially, today’s judgement does not change the way in which law enforcement agencies can detect and disrupt crimes.

"We had already announced that we would be amending the Investigatory Powers Act to address the two areas in which the Court of Appeal has found against the previous data retention regime. We welcome the fact that the Court of Appeal ruling does not undermine the regime and we will continue to defend these vital powers, which Parliament agreed were necessary in 2016, in ongoing litigation."