No heckling in Hansard
At Prime Minister's Questions today Tony Blair was asked about the Bill to exempt Parliament from freedom of information - and, as is sometimes the case, .
But what Hansard doesn't convey is the heckling directed at David Winnick, the Labour MP who raised the issue and is a determined opponent of the Bill. As soon as the topic of his question become clear, the angry rumblings of disagreement from his Parliamentary colleagues started.
The Bill is awaiting its fate in the Lords. On Sunday, , Tom McNally (the LibDem leader in the House of Lords) promised that his party would - contrary to the normal precedents - oppose the Bill outright when it is first debated by peers at Second Reading.
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This is one issue where the Lords could earn a great deal of credibility with the great British public. No one outside the MP's themselves see's any justification for this disgraceful and self serving proposal.
The Lords need to stand up and be counted and do their bit to keep their commons colleagues accountable -not only at the ballot but in detail by way of freedom of information.
Its not difficult to understand why the PM and his pack of MPs want to reform the House of Lords.
Government give advice on pensions, public follow that advice and pay in for up to 40 years, chancellor halts pension dividend relief, pension funds evaporate, contributors find they have no pension, PM and House of commons say 'hard cheese', House of Lords say 'this is wrong, think again Commons'.
Government introduce bill to exclude parliament from FOI thus keeping MPs' expenses secret from the voting public and, no doubt, details of lots of other grotty little deeds under wraps. House of Lords, so far, are not prepared to sponsor this Orwellian bill; indeed, many speak against it and, hopefully, they will stop it.
The MP who introduced the bill to exclude parliament from FOI is reported to have logged expenses to the value of £130,000; there are over 600 MPs; you do the maths and consider how many 'lost pensions' might be compensated.
Did someone mention BAE and government, in the same sentence?
Are we, the public, helpless under this oppression?
No, information is power; help to keep parliament subject to Freedom of Information by signing the petition
www.ourcampaign.org.uk/foi
Nick, your link to PMQ in Hansard is broken (it uses a link to the current day's debates, which have changed since yesterday!) -- the debate's permanent URL is <https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070606/debtext/70606-0003.htm>.
You're right, Blair's answer wasn't exactly transparent. The whole episode is altogether frankly embarrassing.
Rampant corruption and crimality, in your face, we don`t care what you think. About sums up our Houses of Parliament I think.