The Tory MP Chris Grayling this week announced the government’s plans to place severe restrictions on information released under the Freedom of Information Act, on the risible grounds that newspapers were using it to get stories. In Grayling’s view, the information given under the Act should only be used by people trying to understand how government decisions are reached, not to challenge those decisions.
It’s a high-handed, arrogant and authoritarian attitude to the release of government documents. Mike has written this article, Flailing Grayling makes a mess of his Freedom of Information lie, pointing out how utterly specious Grayling’s argument is. He begins
How clever of Chris Grayling to wrap his big lie about Freedom of Information around a small truth (he probably thought).
Yes – it is true that information gained via FoI requests have been used to create news stories.
But – and this is a major, major but – only because the information that had been revealed was of public interest.
Look at This Writer’s FoI request about benefit claimant deaths. That came from a genuine interest in having updated information after the government itself released death figures in 2012.
It could be argued that the government turned it into a news story by refusing to provide that information. The obvious question is: Why? What’s so bad about these figures that the government wants to hide them?
Of course, Grayling is attempting to curb the Freedom of Information Act, because he and his masters in the Tory party find the material contained in them acutely embarrassing. It exposes every lie they’ve made about Britain becoming richer, happier and healthier. And especially their vile attitude to the disabled and the deaths that have resulted from their welfare policies.
Mike’s article is at http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2015/10/29/flailing-grayling-makes-a-mess-of-his-freedom-of-information-lie/. Go and read it.
Tags: Benefit Claimants, Chris Grayling, Conservatives, Deaths, Freedom of Information Act
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