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Britain's 'vital' emergency surveillance law ruled unlawful

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has been given nine months to produce new surveillance legislation it says is vital to national security after London's High Court ruled on Friday that emergency measures rushed through parliament last year were unlawful.

The court backed a judicial challenge from two prominent lawmakers and other campaigners that powers which compelled telecoms firms to retain customer data for a year were inconsistent with European Union laws.

Prime Minister David Cameron had said the measures were vital to protect the country, which is on high alert because of the threat posed by Islamic State militants and from Britons who have travelled to Iraq and Syria to fight with them.

"The court has recognised what was clear to many last year, that the government’s hasty and ill thought through legislation is fatally flawed," said lawmaker David Davis, a long-time campaigner against state intrusion who was defeated by Cameron in the race to become Conservative Party leader in 2005.

Tom Watson, currently standing to be the deputy leader of the opposition Labour Party, added: "The government was warned that rushing through important security legislation would end up with botched law."

Last year's legislation was fast-tracked after the European Court of Justice threw out an EU directive requiring companies to retain data for 12 months.

Cameron had argued that scrapping this could deprive police and intelligence agencies of access to information about who customers contacted by phone, text or email, and where and when, which forms a crucial part of most investigations.

He said the emergency law would not provide new powers but only enshrine existing capabilities.

However, the High Court ruled the law should be "disapplied", saying it did not provide precise rules to ensure data was only obtained to prevent or detect serious crimes, and also failed to ensure there was judicial or independent oversight over the access to the data.

It gave the government until March 2016 to come up with a replacement.

"We disagree absolutely with this judgement and will seek an appeal," said Security Minister John Hayes.

Cameron's government, fresh from winning an election in May, has already promised new legislation to extend the powers of police and spies to monitor communications and web activities so they can keep up with technological changes.

Friday's decision also comes after three major inquiries concluded that British spies were not knowingly carrying out illegal mass surveillance following disclosures by former U.S. security agency contractor Edward Snowden.

(Editing by Stephen Addison)