Editorial

VITAL TRUST

Comments (0)

22 January 2009

THIS IS the second week, as part of our revamped paper, where we have looked more closely at where our local MPs stand on national issues.

In his column North Southwark and Bermondsey MP Simon Hughes mentions the motion today (Thursday, January 22) proposed by the Leader of the Commons Harriet Harman to make a rule change exempting them from Freedom of Information laws.

This motion by Harriet, MP for Peckham and Camberwell,  would allow MPs to keep their expense details secret. And, despite being rushed through parliament in a week where the headlines are dominated by the approval of Heathrow's third runway and the inauguration of President Obama, there has been a significant outcry about it.

After all, the media is there to fight for open government against parliamentary corruption. The fact that this has been raised at the time of Obama’s inauguration is all the more ironic when you consider just one part of his speech this week: "And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government." 

READ MORE...

Harman's tough day in Commons >

---

Social Bookmarks:
del.icio.us Digg Newsvine Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
Wikipedia: social bookmarking

---

Comments (0)

No comments have been posted.

Post a Comment

Please note Name and E-mail Address are required.

Name
E-mail Address (not displayed)
Comment (you may use HTML tags for style)
Enter Text Shown in Picture*
Comments are moderated, and will not appear on this article until the comment has been approved.