A raft of press freedom and transparency campaigners have called on British parliamentarians to launch an inquiry into a secretive Whitehall unit amid growing concerns about secrecy at the heart of government.
The National Union of Journalists, English PEN, mySociety, the Campaign for Freedom of Information, and the European Centre for Press Freedom have all separately written to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC). These organisations are calling for an investigation to be opened into the Clearing House, a controversial Cabinet Office unit which has been accused of ‘blacklisting’ Freedom of Information (FOI) requests from journalists.
openDemocracy has also written to the PACAC – which is chaired by Tory MP William Wragg – as has Labour MP Navendu Mishra, who had previously questioned Michael Gove about the Clearing House operation at the committee.
