> Cybersecurity experts told Reuters that if Apple chose to build a backdoor for a government, that backdoor would eventually be found and exploited by hackers.

Not to mention creating an additional vector for stealing the same data, from UK regulators who "legitimately" use the backdoor. The presumption that data in government hands is secure is absurd. Some breaches from just the past 5 years:

  2021–2022 – Electoral Commission breach: Hackers accessed voter registration databases affecting up to 40 million people (attributed to China in 2024).
  2022 – MOD Afghan email leak: Staff email error exposed details of ~25,000 Afghans in resettlement schemes (revealed 2025).
  2023 – British Library ransomware: Rhysida gang stole 600 GB of data, disrupted services for months, and leaked stolen files.
  2023–2025 – HMRC insider snooping: Hundreds of staff caught misusing access to taxpayer records; 186 dismissed.
  2024 – MOD Afghan data relocation (“Operation Rubific”): Secret £2 bn operation to move 18,500 Afghans after data leak, hidden by super-injunction until 2025.
  2025 – MOD contractor cyber-attack: Hacker breach of resettlement contractor exposed ~3,700 Afghans’ and civil servants’ personal data.