Helen Duffett

Government secrets may be revealed earlier

By | Sun 11th January 2009 - 5:27 pm

An independent review to be published this month is expected to recommend that the 30-year rule on government secrets should be changed to 15 years. Under current rules, 30-year-old confidential government papers are released annually by the National Archives in Kew.

The review was commissioned by Gordon Brown in 2007 and the team, led by Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, has already reported its findings to the Prime Minister.

From the Independent on Sunday:

“Secrets behind events such as the miners’ strike, the poll tax riots and Black Wednesday may be laid bare as early as next year. A new 15-year rule would also see the battles of the first year of Tony Blair’s government revealed in three years’ time.”

The director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti said,

“It is ironic that when it comes to personal privacy it is a case of the Government saying you have nothing to fear, but when you apply that rationale to the idea of secrecy in Government it would seem it has rather a lot to hide.”

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One Comment

  • Simon 11th Jan '09 - 5:35pm

    Curiouser and curiouser. We have no idea what such documents might contain – but such a change happening before a possible election…

    Perhaps they are hoping that some useful titbits might be unearthed with which to embarrass the opposition?

    Nothing Labour does these days has a non-partisan root

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