County MPs Criticised Over Freedom Of Information Bill

6.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 13th Jun 2007

As the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill falls in the House of Lords today [Wednesday], West Worcestershire's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Richard Burt, hit out furiously at Worcestershire MPs Peter Luff and Michael Foster, who have again claimed that they support the Bill in order to protect their constituents' private information.

Richard said: "I welcome the news that this squalid little Bill will no longer become law. It speaks volumes that no member of the House of Lords was prepared to support this legislation.

"However, for MPs to hide behind their constituents' concerns in supporting this Bill is nothing short of disgraceful.

"Of course, MPs primary concern should always be to protect the confidentiality of information given by their constituents. However, there should not be one law for MPs and another law for the rest of us - no wonder people become disillusioned with politics.

"If confidentiality is the real concern, then they should back moves to amend the Data Protection Act, rather than supporting initiatives which will stop MPs expenses being open to public scrutiny.

"We Liberal Democrats remain committed to ensuring Parliament is fully accountable to the public and that freedom of information is strengthened."