LEFT Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan is urging the government to scrap plans to grab new powers to spy on bank accounts and disqualify people who owe money to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) from driving.

He is tabling amendments to the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, which carry forward Tory proposals for mass-scale financial surveillance, using banks to snoop on their customers supposedly to root out welfare overpayments.

Mr Duncan-Jordan said: “I urge ministers to take a step back and look at the message they are sending to welfare recipients and disabled people.

“One week, our Labour government is pushing the largest cuts to disability benefits in a generation; the next, it is calling for mass financial surveillance of millions of people.

“This undermines the principle of the welfare state as a safety net that upholds dignity and respect by providing support when needed — by affording welfare recipients less right to privacy than everyone else,” he added, accusing ministers of pandering to the right-wing media.