Government "netrual" on FoI Amendment....?

I’ve just seen the voting figures from Friday’s Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill. Now remember this is a Conservative Private Members Bill, which usually don’t stand a chance unless the Government backs it, and it’s extremely rare for an Opposition Private Members Bill to be backed by the Government.

Yet, Brown refused to back opponents of the bill, the PM refused to comment and the official line of the Government was that it was “neutral.”

The Bill passed by 96 to 25, of which 78 Labour MPs and 16 Conservative MPs voted in favour. So this bill only went through because Labour backed a Conservative Bill. Not even enough Conservatives backed it to send it through!