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Camden New Journal - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 31 May 2007

Freedom of Information should keep tabs on MPs

• THANK you to the CNJ for your article about a Conservative MP’s plans to allow Parliament to opt out of the anti-secrecy Freedom of Information Act (Dobbo misses vote on FoI bill, May 24).
Frank Dobson’s response to questions about planned changes gives an insight into his priorities. He appears, like many of his Labour colleagues, to believe he should be free from public scrutiny and accountability.
The right to question MPs and check what they do on our behalf is at the heart of the principle of transparency and why the FoI Act is so important.
FoI gives us the ability to see what goes on in our name in the Houses of Parliament. The proposed changes are a brazen attack on the ability of the public to call MPs to account. Mr Dobson is mistaken when he says the changes are needed to protect his constituents’ interests. There has not been a single complaint to support this argument. FoI sets out over 20 kinds of private information that should not be revealed. This means private information remains private.
My Liberal Democrat colleagues in the Commons have been opposing this attempt at a parliamentary cover up. Mr Dobson failed to vote on this important law. Some people may rightly ask: what do he and his colleagues have to hide?
JO SHAW,
Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson, Holborn and St Pancras

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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