Laws welcomes collapse of bill exempting MPs from freedom of information act

David Laws, MP for Yeovil constituency has welcomed the collapse of support for the bill to exempt MPs from the Freedom of Information Act.

The Bill, brought forward by former Conservative Chief Whip, David McLean MP, would have allowed MPs to keep details of their expenses out of the public domain. The Liberal Democrats have opposed the Bill during every debate in the House of Commons but support from Labour and Conservative members meant it gained passage to the Lords.

However, this week, the Bill failed to find a sponsor in the House of Lords to take it forward before the deadline lapsed.

“The news that the Bill to exempt MPs from the Freedom of Information Act has failed to gain support in the House of Lords and therefore collapsed is very welcome.

“MPs correspondence with their constituents is already exempt from the Freedom of Information Act to protect constituents’ privacy and no further legislation is needed to protect MPs.”

ENDS

Category: Constituency News