After MPs voted to pass an amendment to the Freedom of Information Act exempting parliamentarians from the regulations, it is passed to the Lords for scrutiny and amendment. The Telegraph suggests that “Peers are already plotting how best to derail a bill passed by the Commons on Friday that would exclude Parliament from the rules.” They intend to either form a cross-party coalition to stop the bill or table an amendment to ensure the House of the Lords was not covered by the bill in order to shame the Commons into ending the bill entirely.

I very much hope that they are going to, and succeed in this venture of stopping this bill – in any way possible. No legislative organisation should be able to pass laws from which exempts itself and its members. Once again, we are seeing that it is the Lords – the appointed and hereditary chamber – who are the ones who are following the wishes of the people far closer than the representatives which the people get to elect.

The article suggests that the Conservative front bench will be urging Conservative Lords to vote against, supported by a quote from David Willetts:

“I think that it’s wrong for MPs to exclude ourselves from legislation that we apply to everyone else…
It would have been a free vote for individual MPs, but I personally think it is a mistake to pass legislation and then say we MPs should be exempt.”

Hopefully the Lords can see more clearly than the Commons in this matter. It really is quite disgusting that it takes the undemocratic chamber to remind the democratic chamber of what the people want and deserve.

Source: The Telegraph