Lib Dem hypocrisy on "nuisance calls" exposed

The Scottish National Party has today written to the Information Commissioner calling on him to urgently investigate automated calls intended to be be made this evening by the LibDems.

Under a ruling by the Information Tribunal political parties have to comply with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 which forbid the making of wholly automated unsolicited marketing calls to any subscriber who has not consented.

In 2005 the LibDems complained about automated calls being made by other parties and even sought an enforcement notice from the Information Commissioner against the SNP and Conservatives.

The Information Commissioner granted these enforcement notices. At the time, the SNP asked for clarification from the Information Commissioner that this ban would be enforced against all parties.

The Information Commissioner said: "I will not hesitate to take action against any other parties that act in breach of the regulations."

Commenting on the issue today, SNP Central Fife MSP Tricia Marwick said:

"This is the usual utter hypocrisy all other parties have come to expect from the LibDems. They complain about other parties campaigning and then do exactly what they have complained about.

"Considering Mr Clegg's own chief of staff has said that if people don't want to take the call they can to hang up it is apparent that these are unsolicited.

"The LibDems appear to be making automated calls in exactly the same way the SNP did in 2005 and which the LibDems complained about - an introductory message followed by a series of polling questions.

"The Information Commissioner ruled that was illegal and took out an enforcement notice. We sought guidance from the Information Commissioner that this would apply to all parties and he confirmed that in robust terms.

"Given that the Information Commissioner says that political parties have to comply with the 2003 Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations the SNP has written to the Commissioner asking that he take action this day to remind the LibDems of their obligations."

 

Danny Alexander, Nick Clegg's chief of staff, indicated that the calls were unsolicited by saying: "People are free, obviously, if they don't want to take the call, to hang up" – Daily Mail, 17th September 2008.

In 2005 Iain Smith, the head of the Scottish Liberal Democrats election campaign, said: "I think it very unlikely that the SNP has the prior permission of the 500,000 Scots they claim were to receive the pre-recorded message. The information commissioner has confirmed our belief that such calls, without prior consent, are illegal." And he added: "In his guidance to political parties, the information commissioner goes further, making it crystal clear that such calls are unacceptable. Many individuals consider such calls to be extremely intrusive and even disturbing. "If the SNP are still making these calls, they should stop. If they do not it could prove costly, as they can be heavily fined for every complaint they receive.

Some more examples of LibDems complaining about automated calls by other parties:

http://garstonld.org.uk/news/000089/lib_dems_say_stop_nuisance_calls.htm... http://www.northwiltshire.libdems.org.uk/news/000005/tory_nuisance_calls... http://eflibdems.org.uk/news/000031/lib_dem_launch_new_website.html