Google and Whatsapp will be forced to hand messages to MI5

The Conservatives are planning new laws to force some of the world's biggest internet companies including Google, Apple and Facebook to hand over encrypted messages from terror suspects

A concept image of how the iPhone 6 might look
Security services are increasingly concerned by the high levels of encryption on smartphone apps

Google, Facebook and other internet giants will be forced to give British spies access to encrypted conversations of suspected terrorists and criminals under plans to bolster surveillance powers.

New laws will require Whatsapp, which is owned by Facebook, Snapchat and other popular apps to hand messages sent by their users to MI5, MI6 and GCHQ about suspects under investigation.

The new power is to be included in a new Investigatory Powers Bill which will overhaul the ability of the spy agencies to monitorsuspects and intercept their communications.

The bill, announced in the Queen’s Speech, will revive the so-called “snoopers charter” but is much wider than previous planned.

The Conservatives are pushing ahead with the legislation after it was previously blocked by their former Coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats.

The government has pledged to "address ongoing capability gaps" that are hindering the ability of the security services to fight terrorism and other serious crime.

Guidelines indicate the security services have been targeting  communications between lawyers and their clients for years

GCHQ, the security agency, is increasingly concerned by the levels of encryption on apps like Whatsapp

It will also commit to enabling the intelligence agencies to "target" the communications of terrorists, paedophiles and other serious criminals.

The Tories also confirmed that they will push ahead with plans to allow Ofcom to take "tough measures" against broadcasters which broadcast interviews with extremists.

Schools, nurseries and other organisations working with children will also be able to check whether an individual is an extremist to ensure they cannot work with children.

The security and intelligence agencies are concerned that encryption facilities around many online conversations are now so sophisticated they cannot get through to see what suspects are planning.

However, internet companies have been increasingly unwilling to cooperate and breach user privacy in the wake of the mass surveillance claims made in the leaks by former CIA contractor Edward Snowden.

David Cameron, the Prime Minister, earlier this year pledged to close the gap in surveillance powers is he won power.

Andrew Parker, the director general of MI5

Andrew Parker, the director general of MI5, has warned that advances in technology is making the job of the security services more difficult

In a speech in January, he said there should be no "means of communication" which "we cannot read".

He promised a “a comprehensive piece of legislation that makes sure we do not allow terrorist safe spaces to communicate with each other”.

He added: "I am confident the powers we need, whether it is on communications data or the content of communications, I am very comfortable they are absolutely right for a modern liberal democracy."

In a speech in the same month, Andrew Parker, the Director General of MI5, said: “Changes in the technology that people are using to communicate are making it harder for the Agencies to maintain the capability to intercept the communications of terrorists.

“Wherever we lose visibility of what they are saying to each other, so our ability to understand and mitigate the threat that they pose is reduced.”

Robert Hannigan, Director of GCHQ, has accused internet companies of being “in denial” over fanatics exploiting their networks and said they had become “the command and control networks of choice” for terrorists.

Under the proposed new powers, the spy agencies will be able to obtain a warrant from the Home Secretary that will oblige an internet companies to break down its encryption protection on a suspect and allow access to his or her communications.

A Home Office spokesman said the bill was a “landmark piece of legislation to cover the whole investigatory powers landscape in modern communications”.

It will be heavily influenced by the findings of a review by the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, David Anderson QC.

In the wake of the Snowden revelations, Mr Anderson was asked to review the surveillance capabilities of the spy agencies and their safeguards to determine whether they were adequate for the modern age.

His report is expected to be published within days. In March, the parliamentary intelligence and security committee also made a series of recommendation following an inquiry into surveillance and privacy.

It called for the entire existing surveillance legal framework to be incorporated in a single act of parliament. The bill will also set firmly in UK law a requirement on communications companies to retain records of their user’s activities for up to a year.

Emergency legislation had to be brought forward last year after the European Court of Justice threw out an EU directive that required similar retention.

However, a sunset clause in the emergency legislation means it will be fall away in 2016 and needs to be placed on a firmer statutory footing.