Scotland’s largest political party, the Scottish National Party (SNP), has formally passed a resolution opposing the implementation of live facial recognition (LFR) technology by Police Scotland. The move, which occurred at the party’s conference, solidifies political opposition to the controversial surveillance tool and adds to the growing debate across the UK and Europe about the ethics and efficacy of using LFR for public policing.
The resolution reflects deep-seated concerns among civil liberties advocates and many politicians about the technology’s potential for inaccuracy, demographic bias, and the erosion of privacy. LFR systems scan faces in public spaces in real time and compare them against watchlists of individuals, a practice that critics argue amounts to mass surveillance and could have a chilling effect on freedom of expression and assembly.
A Growing Divide Within the UK
The SNP’s stance places it at odds with the direction of policing in England and Wales, where law enforcement agencies, particularly London’s Metropolitan Police, have been significantly ramping up their use of LFR. The Met Police announced in July that it would more than double its use of the technology, deploying it up to 10 times a week. By mid-2025, the force had made over 1,000 arrests using the technology.
This divergence highlights a growing political schism over the use of AI-powered surveillance tools. While some, like former senior police officer Brian Paddick, have argued that LFR can be a valuable tool for making the public safer, others point to studies showing persistent issues with racial and gender bias in the algorithms, as well as legal challenges under European law.
Calls for National Policy and Legislative Framework
The debate over LFR has intensified across the UK. The Biometrics Institute has called for a unified national policy to replace the current “postcode lottery” of inconsistent implementation, while UK police chiefs have proposed £220 million in annual funding to expand biometric surveillance capabilities. Meanwhile, the UK government has signaled plans to introduce dedicated legislation to regulate police use of facial recognition technology.
The expansion continues nonetheless, with the Home Office deploying 10 new LFR vans across seven English police forces, and a £20 million procurement framework launched to standardize LFR software acquisition across UK forces.
The SNP’s resolution adds another significant political voice to the chorus calling for strict limits, if not outright bans, on the use of live facial recognition for law enforcement, ensuring that the debate over its place in a democratic society will continue.
Sources: The Scotsman; Holyrood; Digit.fyi
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By Cass Kennedy
