Norman Baker MP Member of Parliament for Lewes constituency
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Norman Baker blasts passing of shamelessly undemocratic Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill
The highly controversial Bill to exempt Parliament from the scope of the Freedom of Information Act and exempt all MPs’ correspondence with public authorities from public scrutiny has today been passed in the House of Commons.
This follows the decision of the Deputy Speakers presiding over today’s business to allow two closure motions to be moved on the same day, on both Report Stage and Third Reading. The last time there were two successful closure motions on a Private Member’s Bill on a single day was on 6th May 1988, almost two decades ago.
The Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill will now go to the House of Lords for consideration.
Commenting on the passage of the Bill, Norman Baker said:
"This is a terrible day for parliamentary democracy and, in particular, for the House of Commons. Not only is it 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 but it is deeply undemocratic that MPs on both the Government and Conservative benches have clearly collaborated to ensure that those with a contrary view, fighting for open government, were silenced after barely any debate on amendments to the Bill.
"Even worse than that was the acquiescence of the Deputy Speakers in these attempts to muzzle this opposition, despite the fact that the Standing Orders of the House confer a duty on the Chair to ensure that the rights of the minority are protected. I will therefore be making a formal complaint to The Speaker about this very grave failure to allow the voices of Backbenchers representing their constituents to be heard.
"The battle is far from over, however, and the public can rest assured that I will be working with colleagues across the party divide to employ every tactic we can to stop this odious Bill."