A EURO MP for South East England has backed the Oxford Mail’s campaign to protect the Freedom of Information Act.

Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder threw her weight behind our fight days after winning her own information battle.

She used a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to reveal that the UK Government voted in favour of an EU deal to double limits for pollution from diesel cars – a move she said was “shameful”.

Ms Bearder said: “I am fully behind the Oxford Mail’s campaign to protect the Freedom of Information Act.

“I’ve just used the Act to expose the fact the UK Government voted to weaken EU diesel emission limits, a decision that could have a huge impact on air pollution in Oxford.

“This shows how decisions taken behind closed doors can have a huge impact on people’s lives.

“The public has a right to know what position the Government has taken and why – including when it negotiates on our behalf abroad.”

The Oxford Mail is calling on the Government not to restrict the Freedom of Information Act, after it appointed a committee including well-known critics to review it.

Changes could include potentially restricting the information available and introducing punitive charges to make certain requests.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England Oxfordshire branch also said it “absolutely” backed this newspaper’s campaign.

The group submits dozens of FOI requests each year to local authorities to reveal their real intentions regarding the environment.

The campaign’s Oxfordshire director Helen Marshall said: “The FOI Act is a vital tool in our campaigning work.

“It enables us to unearth information from local councils and government departments.

“It is the documents they don’t publish willingly that are often the very ones that are most relevant for the public.

“For example, it was only through FOI enquiries that CPRE discovered that the heritage officer’s advice on the Oxford University blocks at Port Meadow – which said there was ‘no justification’ for the harm they would cause – was never shared with Oxford City Council’s planning committee.”

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, the union Unison and the Society of Editors have also all backed the campaign.

News Media Association, the voice of British newspapers, said the measures being consulted on as part of the Government’s review were an “onslaught on the public’s right to know”.

Sign the petition against diluting the act at change.org/p/matthew-hancock-mp-don-t-weaken-the-freedom-of-information-act