Results 1-12 of 12 for "freedom of information" speaker:Menzies Campbell

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (25 Apr 2007)

Menzies Campbell: I join the Prime Minister in his expressions, yet again, of sympathy and condolence. Does the right hon. Gentleman believe that Members of Parliament should be exempt from freedom of information legislation? Why should there be one law for MPs and a different law for everyone else?

European Constitution (9 Sep 2004)

Mr Menzies Campbell: ...to the legislation that we are all anticipating with so much enthusiasm. Certainly, as far as the proposals relate to the running of the European Union, fewer Commissioners, clearer legislation and freedom of information must all be regarded as positive measures. On competences, the treaty contains a definition of the limits of competences, and the stipulation that competences not...

EU Constitution (16 Sep 2003)

Mr Menzies Campbell: ...it is not. On subsidiarity and proportionality, it is too weak and requires strengthening. There ought to be a red card rather than a yellow card, if I may use the colloquialism of the time. On freedom of information, I still do not believe that the Convention proposals go far enough.

European Affairs (15 Jun 2000)

Mr Menzies Campbell: ...of subsidiarity. That is why I do not shrink from the notion that we need a constitution for Europe. Such a constitution should embody the principles that I outlined. Perhaps it should provide for freedom of information so that transparency can be more easily achieved. It could provide that the Council's legislative deliberations should be held in public. Anxiety has been expressed...

Armed Forces Personnel (13 Apr 2000)

Mr Menzies Campbell: ...has been mentioned today I think, and a number of other reports. I hope that those will be put into the Library and the public domain, not kept secret. They may not fall within the provisions of the freedom of information legislation, which is rather less vigorous than I should have liked, but I hope that—to enlist the support of those who have an interest in the matter—the...

European Union (1 Dec 1999)

Mr Menzies Campbell: ...and accepted framework for future development, but we must make Europe's institutions more democratic and accountable. It has already been hinted in the debate that we should start with a powerful freedom of information regime—as powerful as the regime that may be established in Scotland, and possibly rather more powerful than what appears to be proposed for the rest of the United...

Orders of the Day — Foreign Affairs and Defence (22 Nov 1999)

Mr Menzies Campbell: ...the problem of overstretch, and when the Secretary of State, in almost his first major television interview, can acknowledge that same problem, we are living in strange days for defence. Perhaps freedom of information is beginning to have an effect, even if the legislation is not yet on the statute book. Those statements emphasised the extent of the pressure that our armed forces,...

Kosovo (19 Apr 1999)

Mr Menzies Campbell: ...constitutional reforms in relation to Scotland and Wales, the adoption of the European convention on human rights into our domestic law and perhaps—if we are fortunate—in due course, freedom of information, there is time for a proper examination of that issue. Although the right hon. Gentleman and I disagree as violently as it is possible to disagree on the merits of this case,...

Kosovo (19 Apr 1999)

Mr Menzies Campbell: ...make their own judgments. The Prime Minister rightly says that this is an issue about values. One of those values is freedom of expression. How shall we justify our determination to bring that freedom of information to Kosovo when we seem to fight shy of it ourselves? It is possible to discern the pattern of the air campaign. With the tragic exceptions that have been mentioned, it has...

Opposition Day: International Arms Trade (2 Apr 1998)

Mr Menzies Campbell: ...said: Secrecy made this scandal possible."—[Official Report, 26 February 1996; Vol. 272, c. 605.] The damage caused by secrecy has been acknowledged by the Government in their White Paper on freedom of information, which was published at the end of last year. The opening line reads: Unnecessary secrecy in government leads to arrogance … and defective decision-making. A little...

Scott Report (26 Feb 1996)

Mr Menzies Campbell: ...the proposals in detail; it is a pity that they were not circulated rather more widely before the debate. I echo the hon. Member for Livingston in saying that, without a commitment to a culture of freedom of information rather than official secrets, we cannot be sure that circumstances of the kind that Sir Richard Scott was forced to investigate will not arise again. The best defence...

Civil Liberties and Bill of Rights (19 Jun 1989)

Mr Menzies Campbell: ...to propose embracing a constitutional curiosity which many would find repugnant and which is likely to be as easily overcome as any other piece of legislation. Part of the debate touched on freedom of information. I accept, as the debate showed, that there is an immediate clash of values between those who believe in official secrets and those who believe in freedom of information. The...