JOURNALISTS and their sources could be treated like foreign spies under a chilling revamp of the Official Secrets Act.
New plans would threaten scoops such as our exposure of Matt Hancock’s affair.
Law Commission proposals being considered by ministers could see the sentence for breaching the secrets act bumped up from just two years to 14.
It comes days after the Information Commissioner’s Office raided homes in a bid to smoke out the source on our scoop.
The Home Office consultation document says: “We do not consider that there is necessarily a distinction in severity between espionage and the most serious unauthorised disclosures.”
But free speech campaigner Mick Hume insisted: “If these proposals are implemented, Britain will join the list of authoritarian states which treat journalists as if they are spies.
“Investigative reporting is about revealing hidden truths to the British public.
“These proposals would have a chilling effect on press freedom.”
