MPs to vote to be excluded from freedom of information

[tengreenbottles]

call me a cynical old trout ,but surely allowing MPs to vote to allow themselves to be excluded from the freedom from information act ,so that they can keep thier expenses secret is just wrong on so many levels . I believe their is a website where people can sign a petition,if anyone knows the link? Also does anyone know how i can finf out who my local MP is ,wnat to make sure they dont vote in favour of this , also would the vote be secret or could you find out how your MP voted ?

sorry for horrendous spelling ,please check time of post

you see they are really very cunning ,nobody cares because of all the other exciting/awful stuff thats happening

This is what you need.

thanks habbibu ,i knew someone would have a bit more technical nouse than i

no votes are secret. you will be able to see how they vote.

how can i see how they vote ,used have a load of those books that are all the goings on in the house of commons ,my mum used them to raise her bed

please people ,if this goes through then our MPs can be as corrupt as they like and no-one will be ale to pull them up on it ? I think that is as important as Barack being innagurated

I don't agree with the exemption but I do think it is important not to exaggerate. The vote is on exempting MPs from Freedom of Information, nothing else. They will not be able to "be as corrupt as they like". They will still have to obey the law and the rules of expenses in Parliament.

They are trying to exempt themselves because many journalists have been somewhat irresponsible in the use of the FOI Act - using it to hound certain MPs and often misrepresenting the info gained.

You can see voting records on Hab's link or by looking at Hansard (the daily record of every word spoken and vote taken in parliament).

Artichokes, I do think there's a principle at stake, though. I work in HE and we are bound by the FoI act. And journalists do seek our information, and we have no control over what they do with it - god knows they get league tables wrong often enough! - BUT, I still agree with the principle, and think it's an important law that we need to keep, and just deal with abuse and misuse of it as and when it happens.

I think MPs should be subject to exactly the same laws as other public bodies - I know that sometimes it's difficult, but in public office that's how it works.

I think the letter to the times at the weekend was very apt, if we the general public are expected to keep our receipts etc for HM government in the form of our tax returns the LEAST our elected officals could do is the same!!!!!! (not to mention the staff they now have working for them.

To exempt themselves from the freedom of information FOR NO GOOD REASON is obscene and very definitely undemocratic.

i think this is unbelievable and can't believe it's going to slip through

rant away doris it is obscene

Have emailed my MP ( got dh to rate it on the rant scale first )

Hab - don't get me wrong, i am against the exemption and agree with you about the principle.

i was just suggesting to the op that she may have things slightly out of perspective. i would not equate not being able to find the details of how much my mp spent on his fridge with the inaugeration of the leader of the most powerful nation on earth...

Surely we know better by now than to expect honesty, openness(sp?) and justice from our politicians?

Ok i may have been a tad over the top with the corrupt bit ,however whilst i see your point about journalists using the information in vendettas etc ,i still believe that that information should always be available ,transparency is essential .