New polling commissioned by the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) has found that Britons overwhelmingly reject giving the government access to their encrypted messages, with two-thirds saying they would not trust the current government or any future one with such power. The findings come as ministers continue pushing for access to encrypted communications under the Investigatory Powers Act, a stance that has already prompted Apple to withdraw its Advanced Data Protection feature for UK users after receiving a secret Technical Capability Notice, a dispute reports suggest is ongoing for British users specifically.

The survey of 2,000 British adults, conducted by Public First in April, found 93 percent believe they have a right to private online conversations and 89 percent think messages should only be accessed with a court order. Distrust of government access cuts across party lines, from 56 percent of Liberal Democrat voters to 75 percent of Reform voters, while just 12 percent supported secret orders barring companies from disclosing them, and 53 percent said the security risks of weakening encryption outweigh the benefits. Most respondents worried such access could create vulnerabilities for hackers or be abused, and many said it would make them more cautious about what they share online or more likely to self-censor criticism of officials.