The information watchdog has been urged to investigate a Reform UK competition under which the party has pledged to pay a street’s energy bills for a year.
The demand by the Open Rights Group came as a Labour minister lashed out at Reform’s “publicity stunts” claiming that “Nigel Farage is just trying to get attention and backlash with publicity stunts, based on algorithms.”
To enter, competitors are asked questions, including who they voted for at the last general election and who they plan to back at the next.
Unveiling the draw, Robert Jenrick, the party’s Treasury spokesman, told a press conference in London: “If you give us your details… in the next week or two, we’re going to draw one of those names, and Nigel (Farage) is going to come to your house and he’s going to pay your energy bills and those of everyone who lives on your street for an entire year.”
Digital campaigners, the Open Rights Group, have now called on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to investigate.
Mariano delli Santi, legal and policy officer at Open Rights Group, said: “Reform are asking the public to hand over sensitive data about their voting habits without being transparent about how it will be used. This is a clear breach of transparency obligations under UK data protection law. Nothing in their privacy policy suggests they are not acting unlawfully in many other ways.”
“Political opinions are among the most sensitive types of personal data, and voters must be able to engage in campaigns without feeling pressured to trade their privacy for the chance of material benefit. The ICO must investigate and take a stand against political parties exploiting data in this way.
“Aside from the potential breach of data protection law, offering financial incentives in exchange for people’s political views risks turning democratic participation into a data-harvesting exercise. Free and fair elections depend on trust, transparency, and genuine consent, not competitions that blur the line between campaigning and profiling.”
A spokesman for Reform UK said: “We are entirely confident that this competition is legal.”
The Information Commissioner’s Office has been contacted for comment.
Meanwhile, the latest “political stunt” was lambasted by climate change minister Katie White.
Speaking to The Independent she said: “He is just trying to get attention and backlash with publicity stunts, based on algorithms.”
Moving on to his attacks on net zero policies and renewables repeated that the press conference, Ms White said: “That’s the sort of thing that actually really winds me up as well, because in terms of our security in the long term, this is the route to long term energy security. You can’t sanction the sun or turn off the wind.”
She argued that the war in Iran and threat to oil supplies as well as Vladimir Putin’s control of the oil market underline “why we need our own sources of energy in the long term” and warned that Farage’s policies “undermine Britain’s long term security and investment.”
Unveiling the energy competition, Reform UK also said it would scrap VAT and green levies on household energy bills in a bid to reduce how much people are paying, if it were in government. Prices have risen sharply following the US-Israel war on Iran after oil supplies were severely disrupted by the Middle East conflict.
Mr Jenrick claimed that his party’s plans would save the average household “at least £200 off their energy bill”.
Scrapping the 5 per cent VAT levied on energy bills would cut a family’s energy bill by around £85 a year, while axing the renewables obligation and carbon price support tax would save another £115, the party claimed.
The measures would be funded by a 7.5 per cent reduction in the budgets of unprotected arm’s length bodies, known as quangos, which Reform said would save £2.5bn a year.
On Monday, the government announced a £53 million support package for “vulnerable” heating oil customers hit by surging prices.
