Prime Minister Keir Starmer used the final Prime Minister’s Questions before the summer recess to say former Conservative ministers have “serious questions to answer” over a Ministry of Defence data breach that exposed the personal details of thousands of Afghans who had sought relocation to the UK. Starmer told the House of Commons he welcomed further scrutiny of the episode, which he described as one of the most serious failings his government had inherited. The breach occurred in February 2022 when an official mistakenly emailed a database containing information on almost 19,000 applicants to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy. The then Conservative government learned of the leak in August 2023 and secured a super-injunction that barred any public mention of the incident. That order was lifted on 15 July after an independent review commissioned by the current Labour administration. In the wake of the leak, ministers established a confidential Afghanistan Response Route to bring affected families to Britain. The programme has so far cost about £400 million and is projected to reach roughly £850 million by completion, with around 6,900 Afghans expected to be resettled. Defence Secretary John Healey told MPs that all arrivals undergo full security checks. Ben Wallace, defence secretary at the time of the breach, defended the injunction, insisting it was needed to protect those named from Taliban reprisals. Starmer said that justification will be examined by an inquiry, signalling that the episode—along with its legal cover-up and mounting costs—will remain a political flashpoint when Parliament returns in September.