Freedom of information - not us say MP's

MP's have shown their true colours on Freedom of Information and passed the third reading of a bill that would remove MP's from Freedom of Information laws. With the BBC having recently won it's case preventing the release of the controversial Balen report this is yet another blow for Freedom of Information. Yet again it seems to be a case of one rule for them and another rule for everyone else.

Gordon Brown, despite pledging more open politics, has apparently also rejected calls for him to block the controversial move by MPs to remove them from the scope of freedom of information laws.

This is a truly shameful day for Parliament

The MPs claim that they want to protect private letters from constituents - but it seems more likely that the real reason is that it will also allow them to keep things like their expenses secret.
The government are trying to hide behind the sham of claiming that this move is a matter for MP's but their inaction gives the lie to this and it seems more likely that the government are in favour of the Private Members' Bill and that this is why they have allowed it the time to progress through Parliament.

Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker said the events made him "ashamed to be an MP".

The Bill now goes to the Lords for further consideration.

The FOI bill will remove both the Commons and House of Lords from the list of public authorities who are obliged to release information under the 2000 act, which came into force in 2005. The bill also protects all MPs' correspondence from release and stops other authorities, such as councils or companies, from confirming or denying if they have received a letter from an MP.

Mr Baker said: "It is an effrontery for the House of Commons to make the deeply hypocritical move of exempting itself from a law that applies to every other public body in the country."

At least there are a few elected representatives who show some shame about this move as yet again our politicians demonstrate just why the population has lost so much faith in the electoral process.