Tory bid to put ‘freedom of information’ out of your price range
It’s a contradiction in terms, but it seems the Conservative Government is trying to impose a £600 price tag on Freedom of Information requests, in order to make them too expensive for the majority of people.
You can understand the reasoning: They did it when too many poor people were succeeding in getting justice – why not do it to prevent us getting information, especially embarrassing information about Conservative government activities?
Fortunately, you can sign a petition to scupper these plans, by clicking on this link.
Here’s 38 Degrees:
The government has a plan that’ll make it harder for us to find out what they’re really up to. They want to introduce fees – of up to £600! – for people who use Freedom of Information laws to find out the truth about what they’re doing. [1] But we’ve got 24 hours to have our say and knock these plans out of the water.
The government has been forced to hold a public consultation on their cover-up plan. They’re trying to keep this under the radar, and aren’t expecting many responses. [2] So if thousands of us feed in, we could overwhelm their consultation and topple these plans to make government information harder to get hold of.
Please could you take a few minutes to send a message to the consultation? It closes this Friday, so there’s just 24 hours left. There’s some suggested text to make it as simple as possible. Every single message we send will make it harder for the government to get away with this cover up.
Yes – I’ll tell the government what I think
The Freedom of Information law means that journalists, academics and campaigners can find out what the government is really up to. The list of scandals it has helped laid bare is endless: it exposed the MP expenses scandal, helped uncover details of historic child abuse allegations and revealed the huge number of NHS contracts being handed out to profit-hungry companies. [3]
The government already have a bad track record on Freedom of Information. The panel they appointed to review the law is stacked with people who’ve already admitted they hate it. [4] Introducing steep fees for appeals on FOI requests is just another attempt to limit the public’s right to know what politicians are up to.
38 Degrees is a movement of people fighting to make our democracy work better. We hold our politicians to account, and make sure that politicians hear the voices of ordinary people. But we can’t do that if we’re shut out. Unless we stop this dodgy cover up, it’s going to be even harder to know what politicians are getting up to in our name.
If thousands of us stand up against these plans, we can make them think twice. Please click here to send your message now:
Yes – I’ll tell the government what I think
Thanks for standing up for our democracy,
Sarah, Cara, Laura and the 38 Degrees team
PS: Have you already signed the petition calling on the Government to protect FOI? If not, sign it here:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/freedom-of-information
NOTES:[1] This applies only if someone’s first FOI request is not granted for any reason – which might be the government dragging its heels. It would cost £100 for a written appeal and £600 for a court hearing.[2] Panopticon: Circle the Wagons: They are Coming for the Information Tribunal:
http://www.panopticonblog.com/2015/07/24/circle-the-wagons-they-are-coming-for-the-information-tribunal/
Ministry of Justice: Court and Tribunal Fees:Consultation on further fees proposals:
https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/further-fees-proposal-consultation/supporting_documents/Government%20response%20to%20consultation%20on%20enhanced%20fees%20and%20consultation%20on%20further%20fees%20proposals%20web.pdf[3] BBC news: 10 things we found out because of Freedom of Information:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30645383[4] Act now training: I Don’t Believe It! Fees for FOI Tribunal Appeals
https://actnowtraining.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/i-dont-believe-it-fees-for-foi-tribunal-appeals/
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just like chriss greyling taking justice away from the poor another attack by them to keep us quiet jeff3
That means all we need is to find 600 people to provide a pound via kickstarter. Nevertheless we must block this.
Signed and shared on Facebook
Petition signed … they are doing the same thing in HMRC too £100 if you want to appeal to the first tier (tax chamber) against a HMRC assessment or decision.
They are stooping so low they could crawl under a snakes belly, rogues every one of them not fit to be in power, lies lies lies, Hitler had more idea than this lot.
Whilst I personally suggested to Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell last November that if the Labour Party didn’t develop new policies and engender a new enthusiasm their Party would be superseded by organisations like 38 degrees, I didn’t think it would take hold so quickly. Is this not something Her Majesty’s loyal opposition could and should be organising now? I know it would pose a few problems; there is much that happened under successive Labour Governments which, if exposed by FOI, would be very embarrassing all round.
This government is slipping into fascism bit by bit.
On the one hand they ask to have their Eye ever present on us as we go about our lawful business but when we have our eyes gaze back, they propose to erect a pay wall to hide behind.
This relationship between stateCitizen along this line of relative Gaze penetration, that balance, seems to me a significant indicator of the type of Governance we have or wanted by certain power centres. It is not looking good and I wish that some hot-shot famous sociologists would start speaking up more publicly.
What an excellent analysis James
The government was elected to run the country in an open and honest way and, apart from state security, all decisions must be made available to the public in an open and truthful manner without charge.
Attacking the democracy that we all hold dear that means nothing to the tories, proving what they are, Nazis in suits, they shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this, I’ve signed the petition, hope it gets brought to more people’s attentions!
It will now be FEEdom of Information requests