Shami Chakrabarti, Shadow Attorney General, commenting on campaigners walking out of the Mitting Inquiry, said:

“It’s a bizarre accident of history that politicians sign off telephone taps, judges issue search warrants but the most intrusive form of surveillance is left to be regulated by the police themselves.

“Recent events at the Mitting Inquiry make it more urgent than ever that we review the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to consider judicial involvement before undercover officers can be inserted into people’s private lives.”