From mySociety: “Ministers are about to conceal MPs’ expenses, even though the public has just paid £1m to get them all ready for publication, and even though the tax man expects citizens to do what MPs don’t have to.”

My letter to my MP on the topic:

Dear David Lepper,

I write to you today in the hope that you will vote against the draft Freedom of Information (Parliament) Order 2009 this Thursday, and additionally sign Jo Swinson’s Early Day Motion.

While I greatly appreciate the hard work undertaken by MPs to represent our needs, I do believe it is imperative that, as public servants, they are held accountable to high financial standards. Removing details of MPs’ expenses from FoI legislation is contrary to this important goal.

My hope is for a more open Government that operates with true transparency, and thus reinstates the trust it has sadly lost in the modern public’s eyes. Therefore I believe that this proposal would be very much a retrograde step for British politics. I hope that, as my MP, you will share my viewpoint.

Yours sincerely,
Cennydd Bowles

I normally conduct my political activism solely at the ballot box, but this is an issue so important that I’d urge anyone reading to get involved too. Please consider writing to your MP too (WriteToThem makes this extremely easy), or failing that please join the Facebook group and add your name to the ranks of concerned citizens. Normal apolitical blog service will be restored shortly.