Rishi Sunak: Make ministers’ diaries public now
To: Rishi Sunak, UK prime minister We demand that the UK government makes the diaries of its ministers available to the public. Government ministers are answerable to us for their actions. They work for us and we have a right to know what they are doing and when.
It’s not enough to publish some information about ministerial meetings, as currently happens, because this can be incomplete and light on details. For journalists and the public to properly assess the performance of ministers, we need to see the accounts of their day-to-day meetings (both internal and external) and phone calls. This is especially important in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak and decision-making around Brexit.
There is precedent. The diaries of former health secretary Andrew Lansley were released, albeit after a legal struggle. And it emerged that he was quite happy for them to be released.
We are concerned about the current culture of government secrecy. You and your ministers work for us. We have the right to know what you do.