Hague: Snooping claim 'baseless'
The Foreign Secretary has dismissed claims that spy centre GCHQ used private data from US security agencies to circumvent British laws are "baseless."
Hague: Law-abiding people 'have nothing to fear'
William Hague told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that normal British citizens have "nothing to fear" about the way GCHQ collects and monitors data.
"As someone who knows GCHQ very well... the idea that in GCHQ people are sitting working out how to circumvent a UK law with another agency in another country is fanciful. It is nonsense," he said.
"The net effect is that if you are a law-abiding citizen of this country going about your business and personal life you have nothing to fear about the British state or intelligence agencies listening to the content of your phone calls or anything like that.
"Indeed you will never be aware of all the things that these agencies are doing to stop your identity being stolen or to stop a terrorist blowing you up tomorrow."
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Government insists British spies operate within the law
The Foreign Secretary said British intelligence would never use its partnership with the United States to get around UK laws.
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GCHQ: From Cromwell to the internet
GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) is one of three UK intelligence agencies that form the UK's security and intelligence system.
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US spy programme claims raises privacy fears in the UK
Facebook, Google and Microsoft have all denied claims that they cooperated with US intelligence agencies to gather data on foreign users.