The Government is clinging on to secrecy in its Freedom of Information Bill. The bill would give us no right to see the facts on which Government policy decisions are based. There would be no right to see reports by local authority trading standards or environmental health inspectors. Councils could conceal information which in their ‘opinion’ would prejudice ‘the effective conduct of public affairs’. The new Information Commissioner could only order disclosure in these areas if there was an overriding public interest – a glimmer of hope. But ministers could veto any such order served on them!

This is not the right to know that Labour has been promising for 25 years. It’s not the reform which Tony Blair promised would “signal a new relationship between government and people – which sees the public as legitimate stakeholders in the running of the country.”

The bill is about to go into the House of Lords. Peers are poised to amend the bill to give it teeth. But the Government may try and strip out any improvements when the bill goes back to the Commons. At that point, Labour MPs will have to stand up to ministers and insist that it’s our right to know.

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