“Transparency is being eroded on Labour’s watch” – Kirsty Williams
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have criticised the decision by Labour Ministers to stop publishing a log of decisions made by Cabinet Ministers.
The decision reports were a useful tool used by journalists, members of the public and opposition parties to scrutinize Welsh Government Ministers on the decisions they took.
Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams challenged Labour’s First Minister in the Senedd on the decision, following an urgent question submitted by her today.
Welsh Lib Dems have committed that they will request the same information under the Freedom of Information Act and publish it themselves, if the Welsh Government’s decision were not reversed.
Kirsty Williams AM, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said:
“This has all the signs of an evasive Labour Government once again hiding from any sort of scrutiny. Labour say it’s a ‘streamlining of process’ – it’s clear to everyone else that this is just a streamlining of transparency.
“For the First Minister – a former Minister for Open Government himself – to defend his decision to scrap these reports is absolutely unacceptable. Transparency is a key tenet of open governance, and it’s transparency that’s being eroded on Labour’s watch.
“It shouldn’t matter whether hardly anyone accesses these webpages, or whether other Governments don’t do the same. If Labour’s First Minister was truly committed to the principle of transparency, he would not have taken this decision in the first place.
“The Welsh Liberal Democrats have been leading the fight for more openness and transparency so people can properly hold government decision-making to account and ensure improvement in our public services.”
