{"id":802597,"date":"2026-10-14T18:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T18:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/802597\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T18:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T18:54:14","slug":"the-eyes-have-it-reform-politicians-smart-glasses-prompt-calls-for-ban-in-westminster-wearable-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/802597\/","title":{"rendered":"The eyes have it: Reform politician\u2019s \u2018smart glasses\u2019 prompt calls for ban in Westminster | Wearable technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a flowing speech packed full of precise statistics \u2013 but Jason O\u2019Connell, a Reform UK<\/a> Senedd member, was not quite the gifted orator he had first appeared. The periodic flashing in his spectacles seemed to give the game away as he spoke for five minutes in the Senedd chamber without a glance at his notes.<\/p>\n

\u201cCardiff reviewed 192 roads, following 933 requests, and only four routes have returned to 30mph,\u201d he said as he led the party\u2019s charge to abolish 20mph traffic zones. \u201c\u00a338.3m wasted to implement this policy and up to \u00a38.9bn in an act of economic self-harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was probably no feat of memory \u2013 rather, the Reform member for Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr was suspected of using smart glasses that turned his lenses into tiny teleprompters.<\/p>\n

In the days afterwards, Senedd members said the issue of smart glasses \u2013 popularised by Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s Meta \u2013 needed to be dealt with at pace, with explicit guidance developed on their use.<\/p>\n

There was no suggestion that O\u2019Connell\u2019s glasses were recording. But it has prompted a fresh debate about the increasingly popular technology, with the House of Commons<\/a> facing calls to ban smart glasses at Westminster.<\/p>\n

The Liberal Democrats wrote to Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, on Wednesday urging him to act amid the \u201cincreasing use of smart glasses\u201d on the parliamentary estate. They warned that with Christmas coming, even more people could start using the AI-enabled devices in 2027.<\/p>\n

The technology has myriad implications. Anna Sabine, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for culture, media and sport, said smart glasses could lead to debates becoming increasingly \u201cmanaged\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much is the quality of what an MP is saying actually down to what they\u2019re getting through the AI glasses?\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a really interesting question.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she had not yet identified anyone wearing smart glasses in parliament but added: \u201cThis is the problem: I wouldn\u2019t necessarily know.\u201d A law would help to keep the estate and the work MPs did \u201cprivate and secure\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sabine added: \u201cSmart glasses can record video and take photographs discreetly \u2026 creating a particular risk to the existing rules on the parliamentary estate [limiting recording and photography].<\/p>\n

\u201cI am regularly in meetings with documents or talking about important, private matters on behalf of my constituents. I am sure you will agree that the details of such cases should never be at risk of being shared because someone is filming or taking pictures discreetly.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign up to TechScape<\/p>\n

A weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our lives<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause smart glasses look like ordinary glasses, and increasingly their recording indicator lights can be covered or disabled, filming could easily go unnoticed by security teams, putting private information at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the UK parliament said it was reviewing its policy on the use of camera-equipped smart glasses, as well as other forms of wearable technology, on the parliamentary estate.<\/p>\n

The senior deputy speaker of the House of Lords, Lord Ponsonby, told parliament last month that the review \u201cis considering the implications of these emerging technologies and whether additional guidance is required\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThis work will bring together expertise from those responsible for filming and photography policy, physical and information security, privacy and data protection compliance and accessibility and reasonable-adjustment requirements, ensuring that any future approach appropriately balances security, privacy, operational needs and accessibility considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell has been contacted for comment. On Sunday he posted<\/a> a picture on X of himself wearing a pair of comedy large pink glasses for a breast cancer charity, with the message: \u201cTrialling some new glasses for the chamber this week. Apparently my last ones caused quite a stir.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a flowing speech packed full of precise statistics \u2013 but Jason O\u2019Connell, a Reform UK Senedd…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-802597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}