UK PM Starmer Criticizes Tories Over Afghan Data Breach, £850M Relocation Scheme

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has criticized Conservative former ministers for their handling of a major data breach that exposed the personal details of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had supported British forces, putting them at risk of Taliban reprisals. The breach, which was revealed in early 2022, led to the creation of a secret relocation scheme, the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR), costing hundreds of millions of pounds and involving the resettlement of thousands of Afghans in the UK. The previous government imposed a superinjunction that blocked public discussion of the breach and the relocation scheme until it was lifted recently, prompting calls for a parliamentary inquiry led by the Commons defence committee. Starmer emphasized that there has been cross-party support for helping Afghans who aided British forces but condemned the Conservatives for mismanaging the policy and warned that ministers involved must answer serious questions. Tory former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace defended the injunction as necessary to protect those at risk and denied it was a cover-up. The issue remains contentious, with ongoing scrutiny into the financial and political implications of the secretive relocation programme.