The Cabinet Office Minister has today u-turned on a controversial
Written Ministerial Statement which would have seen an end to
future Humble Address motions in yet another attempt to dodge
scrutiny over Lebedev appointment.
However the Government has failed to honour the resolution of the
House of Commons calling for full transparency on documents
relating to the appointment of .
The Speaker of the Commons released a letter clarifying that “it
was not the Government’s intention to question those power”.
, Labour's Deputy Leader
and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster,
responding, said:
“The Government have used every trick in the book to
dodge answers over the murky appointment of , the son and business partner
of an ex-KGB agent now sanctioned by Canada. This time they’ve
gone too far and been forced to u-turn. This is part of a pattern
of behaviour - they think the rules don’t apply to them.
“The Government has not provided a single piece of information in
the heavily redacted documents they published on Lebedev’s
appointment, failing to comply with a direct instruction from
Parliament. The Government is once again seeking to hide in the
shadows from the sunlight of scrutiny.
“This looks like a cover up and smells like a cover up because it
is a cover up. If the Prime Minister is claiming he was not
involved in forcing through the award of a peerage to an
individual of concern to our intelligence services, he should
come clean and publish the documents as Parliament
instructed. This is a matter of national security and the
public deserve answers – by dismissing the intelligence services'
advice the Prime Minister once again put personal interest before
the public's.”
Ends
Notes to editors:
- On Tuesday, 29 March Labour forced
a binding vote in Parliament to release key information
relating to the appointment of Evgeny Lebedev to the House of
Lords, after it emerged the Prime Minister may have overruled
security service advice warning against his appointment. The
Government have since released heavily redacted documents which
fail to provide any new information on Lebedev’s appointment.
