Data watchdog drops Labour leak case

The Labour Party will not face prosecution over the leaking of a document containing personal details, the data watchdog has told the BBC.

The controversial report - the Work of the Labour Party's Governance and Legal Unit in Relation to Anti-Semitism - was leaked in April 2020, shortly after Sir Keir Starmer became Labour leader.

It contained private email and WhatsApp messages between party staff which dated from the Jeremy Corbyn era.

Many of the messages were derogatory towards supporters of the former party leader.

Labour launched an inquiry into the leak and the wider culture in the party, which culminated in the publication of last year's Forde report.

The party also referred the leak to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which investigates data breaches.

Nine people named in the report are taking Labour, as data holder, to court because they believe their confidentiality was breached.

The ICO's decision not to take action against the party has no direct bearing on this case, which is expected to go to court early next year.

For its part, Labour is also taking legal action against five ex-staff members - all of whom are supporters of Jeremy Corbyn - that it blames for conspiring to put the document in the public domain.

As the BBC reported last week, the ICO investigated the role of three of the five but decided to take no action due to "insufficient evidence".

The ICO has now declared that "the entire case has been closed", so no individual or party will face action.

Lawyers for the five said their clients "strenuously deny, and have consistently denied, any involvement or complicity in the leak".