Freedom of Information - Protecting MP's privilage.

From the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2083404,00.html

The House of Commons could have found many useful things to do yesterday afternoon, but voting to exempt itself from the law on freedom of information was not one of them. By 96 to 25, with the collusion of the frontbenches of both main parties, MPs backed a private member's bill excusing parliament from a duty that it has imposed on every other public body in England and Wales. The grounds for doing so were spurious, an exaggerated fear about the exposure of private correspondence that failed to disguise parliament's fundamental distaste for making its inner workings public. The smell of a private gentlemen's club, all beeswax and dusty velvet, hung over the debate, the outcome of which was about as far as it is possible to get from openness and accountability.

Only one MP spoke in support of the bill: David Maclean, the former Tory chief whip who has pushed it through with great tactical skill. But 95 other MPs came to vote alongside him. That turnout was in itself unusual for a sunny Friday afternoon, with England well set in the Test match at Lords and constituency work awaiting members' attention at home. For many other private member's bills - say the ones on runaway children or cluster bombs which ran out of time yesterday - a handful of MPs would have attended. Only the indulgence of protecting their own interests kept the numbers up. A small band of critics, from all sides but led by the Liberal Democrats, won the debate but was outgunned in the lobbies.

The practical effect of the bill is uncertain. Given a Commons third reading yesterday, it may sink in the Lords. If it does become law, some of the benefits of the Freedom of Information Act will continue. The Speaker has promised that MPs' expenses will still be published. But only in summary, not in detail, as they are by the Scottish parliament, and only for now. A future Speaker, elected by MPs, could stop the practice. Mr Maclean, in his loud speech, argued yesterday that he had the public's interests at heart. His fear, he said, was that private letters to MPs might end up being released to the public if they were passed on to public bodies. But there is already legal protection in this area. At most, it needs clarifying and enforcing. No one could produce examples of real difficulties yesterday. If the current act is flawed then the flaw runs more widely than parliament and so should the correction. A sweeping exemption from all areas of the act for parliament alone is undeserved.

Gordon Brown talked encouragingly this week about openness and parliamentary accountability. If he means it, he should make it known that he does not want to see Mr Maclean's unfortunate bill become law.

Picture from:http://nationofshopkeepers.wordpress.com/2007/05/19/bunch-of-cowboys/

Pub Philosopher sums this nasty little ploy up perfectly:

The excuse that MPs would have to release confidential correspondence with constituents if they were subject to the Freedom of Information Act doesn't stand up. The Data Protection Act of 1998, which protects personal information, takes precedence where the two laws conflict.

Absolute bloody disgrace, the BBC report.

Some more on this here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pabills/200607/freedom_of_information_amendment.htm

Who voted for this...

AYES

Ainsworth, rh Mr. Bob
Allen, Mr. Graham
Anderson, Janet
Atkinson, Mr. Peter
Bailey, Mr. Adrian
Balls, Ed
Barker, Gregory
Bell, Sir Stuart
Betts, Mr. Clive
Blackman, Liz
Brown, rh Mr. Nicholas
Burgon, Colin
Burns, Mr. Simon
Butterfill, Sir John
Cairns, David
Campbell, Mr. Alan
Campbell, Mr. Ronnie
Cawsey, Mr. Ian
Chope, Mr. Christopher
Clark, Paul
Clelland, Mr. David
Coaker, Mr. Vernon
David, Mr. Wayne
Dhanda, Mr. Parmjit
Djanogly, Mr. Jonathan
Donohoe, Mr. Brian H.
Doran, Mr. Frank
Dowd, Jim
Duddridge, James
Dunne, Mr. Philip
Eagle, Angela
Eagle, Maria
Ellwood, Mr. Tobias
Fabricant, Michael
Fitzpatrick, Jim
Flint, Caroline
Follett, Barbara
Foster, Mr. Michael (Worcester)
Francois, Mr. Mark
Gardiner, Barry
Godsiff, Mr. Roger
Hall, Mr. Mike
Hammond, Stephen
Harris, Mr. Tom
Henderson, Mr. Doug
Heppell, Mr. John
Hill, rh Keith
Hollobone, Mr. Philip
Hurd, Mr. Nick
Irranca-Davies, Huw
Jones, Mr. Kevan
Jones, Mr. Martyn
Kemp, Mr. Fraser
Kirkbride, Miss Julie
Knight, rh Mr. Greg
Lammy, Mr. David
Laxton, Mr. Bob
Levitt, Tom
Lewis, Mr. Ivan
Lloyd, Tony
Maclean, rh David
MacShane, rh Mr. Denis
Mahmood, Mr. Khalid
Maples, Mr. John
Marshall, Mr. David
McAvoy, rh Mr. Thomas
McCabe, Steve
McCartney, rh Mr. Ian
McFall, rh John
McGovern, Mr. Jim
McIsaac, Shona
McNulty, Mr. Tony
Merron, Gillian
Michael, rh Alun
Morley, rh Mr. Elliot
Mudie, Mr. George
Munn, Meg
Murphy, Mr. Denis
Neill, Robert
Norris, Dan
O'Brien, Mr. Mike
Pound, Stephen
Prentice, Bridget
Pritchard, Mark
Purchase, Mr. Ken
Randall, Mr. John
Robertson, John
Roy, Mr. Frank
Ruffley, Mr. David
Ryan, Joan
Salter, Martin
Shaw, Jonathan
Sheridan, Jim
Simon, Mr. Siôn
Smith, Ms Angela C. (Sheffield, Hillsborough)
Smith, rh Jacqui
Snelgrove, Anne
Spellar, rh Mr. John
Stewart, Ian
Sutcliffe, Mr. Gerry
Tami, Mark
Taylor, Ms Dari
Thomas, Mr. Gareth
Tredinnick, David
Twigg, Derek
Vara, Mr. Shailesh
Ward, Claire
Watson, Mr. Tom
Watts, Mr. Dave
Wicks, Malcolm
Winterton, Ann
Winterton, Sir Nicholas
Wright, David
Tellers for the Ayes:
Mr. Tim Boswell and
Mr. Andrew Dismore

Full list from Hansard: here

Now lets take a closer look at that list and see who voted in favor from both sides of the floor...

Labour MPs

Bob Ainsworth (Coventry North East)
Graham Allen (Nottingham North)
Janet Anderson (Rossendale & Darwen)
Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West)
Sir Stuart Bell (Middlesbrough)
Clive Betts (Sheffield Attercliffe)
Liz Blackman (Erewash)
Nick Brown (Newcastle upon Tyne East & Wallsend)
Colin Burgon (Elmet)
David Cairns (Inverclyde)
Alan Campbell (Tynemouth)
Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley)
David Clelland (Tyne Bridge)
Harry Cohen (Leyton & Wanstead)
Wayne David (Caerphilly)
Parmjit Dhanda (Gloucester)
Brian Donohoe (Ayrshire Central)
Frank Doran (Aberdeen North)
Jim Dowd (Lewisham West)
Angela Eagle (Wallasey)
Maria Eagle (Liverpool Garston)
Clive Efford (Eltham)
Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar & Canning Town)
Caroline Flint (Don Valley)
Michael Foster (Worcester)
Mike Hall (Weaver Vale)
Tom Harris (Glasgow South)
Doug Henderson (Newcastle upon Tyne North)
John Heppell (Nottingham East)
Keith Hill (Streatham)
Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore)
Kevan Jones (Durham North)
Martyn Jones (Clwyd South)
Fraser Kemp (Houghton & Washington East)
David Lammy (Tottenham)
Bob Laxton (Derby North)
Tom Levitt (High Peak)
Ivan Lewis (Bury South)
Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central)
Tommy McAvoy (Rutherglen & Hamilton West)
Stephen McCabe (Birmingham Hall Green)
Ian McCartney (Makerfield)
John McFall (Dunbartonshire West)
Shona McIsaac (Cleethorpes)
Tony McNulty (Harrow East)
Khalid Mahmood (Birmingham Perry Barr)
David Marshall (Glasgow East)
Gillian Merron (Lincoln)
Alun Michael (Cardiff South & Penarth)
Laura Moffatt (Crawley)
Elliot Morley (Scunthorpe)
George Mudie (Leeds East)
Meg Munn (Sheffield Heeley)
Denis Murphy (Wansbeck)
James Plaskitt (Warwick & Leamington)
Stephen Pound (Ealing North)
Ken Purchase (Wolverhampton North East)
John Robertson (Glasgow North West)
Frank Roy (Motherwell & Wishaw)
Joan Ryan (Enfield North)
Martin Salter (Reading West)
Jonathan Shaw (Chatham & Aylesford)
Jimmy Sheridan (Paisley & Renfrewshire North)
Sion Simon (Birmingham Erdington)
Angela C Smith (Sheffield Hillsborough)
Anne Snelgrove (Swindon South)
John Spellar (Warley)
Ian Stewart (Eccles)
Mark Tami (Alyn & Deeside)
Dari Taylor (Stockton South)
Gareth Thomas (Harrow West)
Dr Desmond Turner (Brighton Kemptown)
Claire Ward (Watford)
Tom Watson (West Bromwich East)
Dave Watts (St Helens North)
Malcolm Wicks (Croydon North)
Phil Woolas (Oldham East & Saddleworth)
David Wright (Telford)

Conservative MPs

Peter Atkinson (Hexham)
Simon Burns (Chelmsford West)
Sir John Butterfill (Bournemouth West)
James Duddridge (Rochford & Southend East)
Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East)
Julie Kirkbride (Bromsgrove)
Greg Knight (Yorkshire East)

The words "Smug, self-serving, hypocritical and out of touch " were used to describe Parliament by an angry Norman Baker MP today on Sky News. The whole house should hang their collective heads in shame.

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