"LABOUR is increasing secrecy in local government, shutting out the press and public from the council chamber", claims David Nuttall, the Conservatives Prospective Parliamentary Candidate commenting on new local government access to information regulations due to come into force on January 9.
"Currently, the press and public have a right to attend council meetings and see council papers three days in advance of those meetings. Under the new Local Government Act and regulations due to come into force in January, this legal right of access is being restricted to only 'key decisions'.
"Before the election, Tony Blair promised to make government more open. But obsessed with control freakery, Labour are now creating a new culture of secrecy in local government which again provides evidence that Labour say one thing but do another."
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