Without Freedom of Information we'd never have known that MPs were claiming
thousands and thousands of pounds worth of our money for their duck houses
and for their moats and for all kinds of other frivolous items
the taxpayers should never have been paying for.
We'd never have known so many stories that are vitally in the public interest
but the problem is Freedom of Information is under unprecedented threat now.
We've discovered that there's a secretive unit inside government that is screening
all the Freedom of Information requests that get sent to government and is profiling journalists.
Taking into account who a journalist is who they write for where they work
when deciding whether or not to release certain types of information.
That is against the spirit and the letter of Freedom of Information law.
As one example of just how important this is,
how it can often be a matter of life and death and justice it's the story of Jason Evans.
Jason Evans was 4 when his father died.
Jason's father like thousands of other people in Britain
was given contaminated blood on the NHS.
In this case it had HIV and he died.
"It's strongly my belief that had action been taken
my dad would not have been infected with HIV and in that scenario,
it's most likely that he'd still be alive today."
Jason has been trying to piece together what happened why,
and who was responsible for his entire life.
Again and again and again he's been blocked and we've discovered he was blocked by
the secretive clearing house unit which ministers deny exist,
or deny exist in its current form and yet we have clear evidence that they have been telling
other government departments to deny Jason the information he seeks.
Jason believes that he is piecing together one of the biggest cover-ups
that's happened in Britain in a generation.
"A product that was known to be dangerous was released,
the harm became evident it was covered up and the people impacted by it
had been denied any sense of truth for justice ever since."
This should not be happening in Britain today.
Sadly this isn't the only case of life and death we've uncovered.
Three and a half years after 72 people burned to death in Grenfell tower,
we've discovered that the government has been advising local authorities,
to block the release of information about which towers still have
the types of cladding similar to that used in Grenfell.
At open democracy we've had to fight for our right to access basic information.
We fought legal battles which have taken years,
to for example discover what taxpayer-funded research
about the consequences of Brexit actually says.
Struggles that we should never have had to fight,
and legal battles we should never have had to mount.
Michael Gove says that there's no breach of the law,
we have direct evidence which contradicts this.
Our reporter Jenna Corderoy entered a subject access request which showed
that she was being discussed across government.
There were literally and I quote government officials saying:
"Just flagging this to you as Jenna Corderoy is a reporter for openDemocracy."
It was that blatant they are discussing who we are in relation to the information we seek,
and that's just completely against the spirit and the letter of the law.
If you don't have true Freedom of Information we don't have the right to understand
what our government is up to, what decisions they're taking on our behalf,
what they're telling us and what they're hiding from us.
It is a vital tool for holding power to account in this country,
and it not only needs to be defended and protected,
but it needs to be strengthened and enhanced.
We should be able to see what ministers and government officials are saying
on WhatsApp and encrypted channels as well as on email.
This should apply also to private companies there have been unbelievable amounts
of money made during the Covid crisis by a number of unaccountable private firms,
often who are very politically connected we need the law to be extended
so that we can access information about how private companies
are operating when they deal with government as well.
The good news is that we can all do something about this
we're taking the government to court over their secrecy.
We're also running a petition which thousands of people across this country have already signed.
If you add your name to this petition calling for transparency and accountability
this will materially affect the case because it will show that thousands of people
across this country are demanding better access to information.
And we're running a campaign across the media getting newspapers outlets on side
from across the political spectrum because this affects us all.
There are huge questions that the government is going to have to answer
over what happened during the past year during the pandemic.
If we can't ask those questions and get the information we need,
we can't hold our leaders accountable we can't know what mistakes were made
what things need to be fixed and what we can learn about this crisis going forward.
This is why it's so important that we all add our names to this.
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