Catherine Bearder

Oxford Mail:

Liberal Democrat Member of the European 
Parliament for the South East of England

I am delighted to be backing the Oxford Mail campaign to protect the Freedom of Information Act (FOI).

We must all ensure this crucial law isn’t watered down by the Government’s current review.

Hundreds of people have used the Act over the past 10 years to question and expose the Government. These include journalists, campaigners and ordinary citizens who want to know what is being done in their name. Last week, I became one of them.

I used the FOI Act to find out and expose the fact that last month the UK Government voted, behind closed doors, to significantly weaken new EU limits on deadly diesel emissions.

This shameful decision could significantly affect air pollution right here in Oxford. Yet if it wasn’t for the FOI Act, nobody would have known who was behind it.

Following the Volkswagen scandal or “dieselgate”, where it was revealed millions of customers were misled into buying vehicles with emission defeating devices, there were high hopes that EU governments would come together to try to fix the much broader problem of diesel pollution in our towns and cities.

A recent government study found nitrogen oxides (NOX), largely emitted by diesel vehicles, are responsible for more than 23,000 early deaths across the UK each year.

This is a public health crisis on a massive scale that has been ignored for far too long.

Yet for national governments, it’s as if “dieselgate” never happened. At a secretive meeting last October, EU governments agreed to double the legal limit for pollution from diesel cars, to help carmakers meet new stricter tests.

When I heard rumours that it was the UK government who had been making dodgy deals behind closed doors, I made an FOI request. I was furious to see the Government putting the interests of the powerful car industry lobby ahead of public health, but I was also angry about the way the decision was made. The public has a right to know what position the UK Government has taken and why, including when it negotiates on our behalf abroad.

Along with other MEPs I will be trying to overturn this disgraceful deal in the European Parliament. It won’t be easy – we will need the support of the majority of MEPs to reverse the decision. Nevertheless it will show the public that their elected MEPs will stand up for them – and keep the Government in check.

Decisions taken by people in power, behind closed doors can have a huge impact on people’s lives, yet most of the time we don’t know they are happening.

The process of FOI might be a nuisance to governments, but it empowers us to maintain the checks and balances which are vital in an open democracy.

That is why we must do everything we can to protect it.