SEEKING A RULING.

The Information Commissioner’s Office – Scotland
Queen Elizabeth House
Sibbald Walk
Edinburgh
EH8 8FT

Scotland@ico.org.uk

I reprint below a reply sent to a Party colleague refusing her a meeting with Scottish Cabinet Minister Shona Robinson.

I completely accept a Minister has the right to determine who they meet, however I am very concerned about the written explanation about why any meeting would not be appropriate.

I publish below a photo of the reply she received..

Now it seems to me a concern that it would appear being a member of a political party debars an individual from access to Ministers. Really?

Are not political parties an accepted and important part of securing genuine democracy in any free country.?

If not then I would suggest that rules need introduced to advise the public that by joining ANY political party in Scotland an individual is perhaps giving up their right to free discussion with Government Ministers on the issues of the day. I am quite sure most people would be very surprised if this was the case.

As the Information Commissioner for Scotland I would be most interested in your view on this as in my view it infringes an individuals right to free access to Government and having been involved in Scottish Politics since 1974, and having held senior National Office in two major political parties, I have met numerous Ministers over the years, who represented several different political parties. None of them asked about my political affiliation or suggested in any way that it could be a potential barrier to our discussions. i am therefore of the opinion that this must be a new development and I seek your view on this.

I intend to publish this letter on my blog YoursforScotland.com and I would intend to publish any reply to this message as I believe it will be of interest to many people, political activists in particular.

I look forward to your response

Yours for Scotland

Iain M.Lawson

Paisley

Email Iain.lawson27@iainlawson27

BEAT THE CENSORS

Sadly some sites had given up on being pro Indy sites and have decided to become merely pro SNP sites where any criticism of the Party Leader or opposition to the latest policy extremes, results in censorship being applied. This, in the rather over optimistic belief that this will suppress public discussion on such topics. My regular readers have expertly worked out that by regularly sharing articles on this site defeats that censorship and makes it all rather pointless. I really do appreciate such support and free speech in Scotland is remaining unaffected by their juvenile censorship. Indeed it is has become a symptom of weakness and guilt. Quite encouraging really.

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