This unaltered story [1] was originally published on OpenDemocracy.org.
License [2]: Creative Commons 4.0 - Attributions/No Derivities/Int'l.
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70% of public concerned by UK government secrecy
By: []
Date: 2021-09
UK voters are seriously concerned by government secrecy, and in particular its failure to answer Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, a survey has found.
A poll commissioned by openDemocracy found that three-quarters of adults believe transparency is important for the health of the UK’s democracy.
But most are concerned that the number of FOI requests being rejected by the government is on the rise.
Last year, 60% of requests were answered without releasing all the material – compared to just 40% in 2010. The poll, carried out by SavantaComRes, found that seven in ten UK adults were concerned by this development.
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Views on government transparency are shared across the political spectrum, with 83% of Conservative voters and 76% of Labour voters agreeing that it is important for democracy (a rating of 7-10 on a scale from 0-10).
Responding to the figures, Tom Brake, director of the campaign group Unlock Democracy, said "transparency is an essential ingredient of any strong and thriving democracy. This isn't the view of a political elite: openDemocracy's evidence shows it is the view of the overwhelming majority of the public.”
The findings come as an openDemocracy investigation revealed that the British government has spent at least half a million pounds on legal costs fighting FOI disclosures, with the Department of Health and Social Care spending more than £129,000 on a single case, in an attempt to prevent the disclosure of ministerial diaries.
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https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/freedom-of-information/opinion-poll-finds-that-the-public-are-concerned-about-the-rise-in-government-secrecy/
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