Investigative journalism website OpenDemocracy says 2020 was the worst year for transparency since the UK Freedom of Information Act came into force in 2005.
And it accuses the UK government of waging a secret war using an array of tactics to block release of information to the public. It says just 41% of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests sent to government departments and agencies were granted in full in 2020, down from 43% the previous year.
It’s not only the government and some of its departments in particular that the OpenDemocracy report highlights – cases also involved oil giant BP using private spies on environmental campaigners and NHS stonewalling requests for information. The findings were published in OpenDemocracy’s report, Access Denied, which exposes the extent of the government’s attack on FOI.
UK government waging secret war on information freedom
Access Denied
Public wants facts and fairness
Photo: Anne Nygård /
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