Fears Murdoch will use 13m Sky customers' personal data to further political ends raised by peers

Should records 'fall into the hands of an owner with an appetite for political leverage, the temptations and opportunities for misuse become very great,' warn peers

Rupert Murdoch's company had valued Sky at £18bn back in 2016 (Getty)

Data about the private habits of 13 million people would fall into the hands of Rupert Murdoch if his bid to take over Sky is approved by the Government, posing a “grave threat to our democratic process”, members of the House of Lords have warned.

In a cross-party letter, six peers led by filmmaker David Puttnam said the Sky database could be used to satisfy the political purposes of the billionaire media mogul.

The Government is deliberating whether to allow Mr Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox – which currently owns 39 per cent of Sky – to take over the broadcaster. A decision on the £11.7bn deal could come as soon as next week.

Mr Murdoch already owns The Times, The Sun, The Wall Street Journal and Fox News. Ofcom raised concerns the deal threatened the plurality of the media.

But the peers warned the significance of the data Sky possessed – on the TV viewing, internet and phone habits of millions of households – had not been considered by the Government.

Should the records “fall into the hands of an owner with an appetite for political leverage, the temptations and opportunities for misuse become very great indeed”, the letter to the Observer warned.

Lord Puttnam, a Labour peer, said the information could be used to target individuals with political advertisements and profoundly alter public perceptions.

The peers said there was an “urgent need” for the Information Commissioner to give assurances the data could not be “misused”.

The UK is the final country required to give permission for Mr Murdoch's company to buy the remaining 61 per cent of the broadcaster. Regulators in other countries where Sky operates – Ireland, Austria, Germany and Italy – have all approved the deal.

Mr Murdoch’s bid comes six years after his last attempt at taking the business over through News Corporation in 2011.

That bid was derailed by the phone-hacking scandal at his News International newspaper company, which eventually forced the closure of the News of the World.

Ongoing civil cases against some of Mr Murdoch’s newspapers have raised questions about the suitability of Fox to take full control over Sky, although he was never charged with phone-hacking offences.