As someone well acquainted with the UK government’s belligerent reactions to requests for information, I found the official reaction to openDemocracy’s scathing report into transparency at the heart of Westminster entirely predictable.
“Complete nonsense” was the verdict from Whitehall following the publication of the report that highlighted how 2020 was the worst year on record since the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act was introduced in 2005.
Few would have expected anything but such a response from a government that is clearly determined to ensure a cloak of secrecy around its centre. This is a government that appears to be of the opinion that rules apply only to those outside of the Tory party. After all, if you don’t like the rules, then you can just move the goalposts. It could be FOI, the Northern Ireland protocol or, say, the Commons Standards Committee.
