Freedom of Information

For many years members of the Campaign for an English Parliament strived to obtain information about the Blair cabinet’s pre-devolution discussions and the advice they received about their proposals for devolved government. Sadly, we were unsuccessful, our requests under the Freedom of Information Act repeatedly turned down.

Now, it looks like the current government intend to make it even harder for the people to find out what is going on.

We have been asked to circulate what is given below. The views expressed are not necessarily endorsed or supported by the CEP.

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The government wants to restrict freedom of information laws – that help citizens expose dodgy lobbyists, poor government decisions and threats to public safety. It’s a cover-up – and it’s dangerous.

38 Degrees members stand up for democracy – and democracy only works if it’s transparent. If we act fast, we can show them that they won’t get away with dismantling our democracy without a fight.

Newspapers and several Conservative MPs have already spoken out against the plans. A huge people-powered petition – signed by hundreds of thousands of us – will add even more pressure on the government to scrap their idea. Please sign the petition now, it’ll only take ten seconds:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/freedom-of-information

The government is desperate to water-down our right to hold them to account. While only a few of us may have ever made a request using freedom of information laws – they’ve impacted us all.

It was a ‘Freedom of Information’ (FOI) request that exposed the MPs’ expenses scandal. And it was another FOI request which exposed that a third of NHS contracts were being handed-out to private companies. Freedom of information laws are critical for many of the campaigns that improve our society.

Without being able to hold the government to account on its decisions, politics would be even more secretive and murky. We risk having a government which doesn’t need to worry about who it’s talking to or who it’s taking money from, because who’s going to find out?

If you believe we all have the right to know what our government’s doing in our name, please add your name to the petition now:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/freedom-of-information

38 Degrees is a movement of people fighting to make democracy work. We hold our politicians to account and influence decision makers to make choices that benefit us all.

But we can’t do that if we’re shut out. So if we’re serious about improving transparency in politics, this means making sure we can ask the difficult questions – and get honest answers – from our decision makers. Please sign the petition now:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/freedom-of-information