[1]Although the government claimed it was neutral on the issue, private members bills rarely pass without government support, leading to claims the executive tacitly supported moves to water down freedom of information legislation.
Members of the backbench committee of the Parliamentary Labour Party had emailed colleagues in support of the bill.
The email said: We feel strongly... that the measures contained the bill, which would protect the confidentiality of MPs correspondence on behalf of constituents, are worthy of support [...] We hope you would agree that MPs correspondence on behalf of a constituent to a public authority should remain confidential.
Critics of the changes claimed the intention was to keep embarrassing information secret, rather than to save money.
[4] It seemed to have failed for lack of a sponsor in the House of Lords [5] and due to the action of Jack Straw.