FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT- Updated 17 Sept., 2015

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LATEST NEWS:  17 Sept., 2015  --
The Government trying to put through a bill that anyone wanted information have to pay up to £600.  It is a typical sneaking way to cut down Freedom of Information, get some more money and mainly to cover-up.

Well it was to be expected. Too many times PM, Ministers, Chancellor and Depart of Work and Pension Ian Duncan Smith sat there with red faces and if they could not manage that they tried to whitewash it.

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The last straw was the revelation of the British Pilots bombing Syria. The Prime Minister knew about it since September 2014 and tries now to soften the blow with the excuse they were flying under US operation. As if that would make any difference to the IS if they seeks revenge. 

Does the Prime Minister not think and care about the people who could face bloodshed on the street of the UK?

Apparently he does not.

This Government was also supplying chemicals to the so-called “Freedom Fighters” who were infiltrated by the Al Qaeda and eventually grew the IS. These chemical were to enable them to produce chemical weapons. It came to a head in 2013 when a chemical weapon exploded in Syria.

All the various secret and sly doing were expose by various sources. Now Freedom of Information could be curbed to prevent further information to reach the public.

The Guardian reports:

Mathew Hancock, Cabinet Office Minister, laid a statement before Parliament outlining details about the five-person commission that would be asked to decide whether the act is too expensive and overly intrusive. Members will include Jack Straw, former foreign secretary, who is already on the call for the act to be re-written. Straw is still the subject of FOI requests over the rendition of a terrorist suspect during his time in office.

Lord Carlisle of Berriew will also sit on the committee. He accuses the Government of  “a criminal act” when it published stories using National Security Agency material leaked by Edward Snowdon. The committee’s other members will be Michael Howard and Dame Patricia Hodgson and it will be chaired by Lord  Burns.

The act of Freedom of Information was introduced by the Labour Party which is already a sore spot with the Tories. Furthermore, it was noticed PM David Cameron and his disciples can not face the truth to be given to the public. It is certainly a complete controversy to curb or even complete close the FOI when David Cameron announced, previously, that his Government will be transparent, another broken promise.

Freedom of Information will supply information as long it does not cost more £600 when it concerns a case of the government department and £450 for another public body. In view of this the excuse of costing too much could not be raised but they will.

It also did not make friends, in many corners, to lose the legal battle to stop the publication of Prince Charles’s letters.

Under the Freedom of Information act is an exemption for most internal civil service advice but campaigners fear it will be completely closed down and then kept for 20 years under a blanket ban.

Ministers demanding a reform because they fear exposures pf their internal memos. This Government seems to be nothing but reforming and every time it ends up in a bigger mess.

To me it looks like to keep everything under the table like bombing Syria despite the majority of Ministers voted against it or the revelation made by Edward Snowden.

Information Commissionaire Christopher Graham said: “The act is not without it critics but in providing a largely free and universal right of access to information, subject to legislation exceptional, we belief the freedom of information is fit for purpose.”