MPs back 'bedroom snooping' census
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Wednesday, 02, Dec 2009 01:25
By politics.co.uk staff
The Commons approved the 2011 census last night without debate, after Conservative claims of "bedroom snooping".
MPs voted the draft census through by 296 votes to 127, despite claims from shadow minister Nick Hurd that it was overstepping the boundary of the public's right to privacy.
The new census will ask citizens for the first time how many bedrooms they have in their homes.
It will request the names, sex and dates of birth of anyone who stays in their home overnight.
"An increasingly invasive and intrusive census will erode public support, cost more, and result in a less accurate survey," Mr Hurd said in October.
"Just because the government has the legal powers to ask these questions does not give the state the licence to ask anything they want.
"These bedroom snoopers are yet another sign of how the Labour government has no respect the privacy of law-abiding citizens."
In a separate vote, Liberal Democrat MP Dan Rogerson failed in his bid to secure 'Cornish' as a nationality option.
His amendment was defeated by 261 votes to 49.