ACTIVISTS and politicians who were spied on by police officers spoke out about their demands today ahead of the Undercover Policing Inquiry.

Having already cost £30 million, the inquiry about undercover policing in England and Wales between 1968 and 2008 formally began in 2015 and was originally scheduled to end in 2018.

On Monday, the first phase of the hearings will consider the operations of the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) between 1968 and 1972, ahead of a second phase starting in January.

Hundreds of people have been granted “core participant” status in the inquiry, including family justice campaigners Neville Lawrence and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, former and current Labour MPs such as Diane Abbott and Ken Livingstone, women who were deceived into intimate relationships with undercover policemen, trade unionists and other campaigners.

Former Labour MP Dave Nellist said: “We don’t want an inquiry that seeks to fix a broken system. 

“We want an end to this systemic policing and political abuse that has gone on for half a century.”

Campaigners are calling for the inquiry to reveal all the names of individuals and organisations that were spied on and for the cover names and photos of all undercover police officers to be released to the public. 

They have also warned that as a result of the involvement of spycops, there could be cases of miscarriages of justice, and where appropriate, convictions should be investigated.

Lisa, whose real name is concealed for anonymity, said that the start of the inquiry came at an emotional time for her as it marked the 10-year anniversary of the discovery that her partner of six years was a police officer with children. 

“It’s not just about the relationship with one man, it’s about the deception that was supervised by the Met Police,” she said.

“There was a backroom of people reading our messages, calls looking at our holiday photos.

“Whilst the individual officers should be held to account, I don’t want this inquiry to be about them taking the fall. 

“I want to know how far this went and I want all the names and faces of those in the backroom.”