"Some documents relating to Lord Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the US are being "withheld" from MPs, the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has said. Lord Beamish, chair of the committee tasked with reviewing the documents, said Lord Mandelson's vetting file was one example of a document that had been kept back. He said the government may have good reasons to withhold some material but did not have the authority to do so and ministers should seek MPs' approval to retain certain pieces of information."
"A Cabinet Office spokesperson said the government was "working to publish as much material as we can as soon as possible". Conservative shadow minister Alex Burghart said: "It is outrageous that Labour are trying to withhold documents about the Mandelson-Epstein affair from Parliament." He accused the government of trying "to pull the wool over the public and Parliament's eyes". Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: "This thing reeks. Why is the government trying to cover up, again, the scale of the Mandelson mess? What could be worse than what we've already seen?""
"In February, MPs voted to force the government to publish all papers relating to the appointment through a parliamentary process called a humble address. The government initially opposed the motion arguing that it did not want to publish material that could damage national security or diplomatic relations. However, in a last-minute compromise it agreed to first send sensitive documents to the Intelligence and Security Committee, who would decide what could and could not be published. The first tranche of documents was published in March."
"In his statement, Lord Beamish said the committee has reached a decision on all the redactions requested by government in the 337 documents referred to it, and that it is now for the government to publish the documents within 28 sitting days."
Documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as the UK ambassador to the US are being withheld from MPs. Lord Beamish, chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee, said Mandelson’s vetting file is an example of material kept back. The committee may have good reasons to withhold some material, but ministers do not have authority to do so without MPs’ approval. The government said it is working to publish as much material as possible. MPs previously voted to force publication of all papers through a humble address process. The government agreed to send sensitive documents to the Intelligence and Security Committee, which decided what could be published. The committee has now reached decisions on redactions across 337 documents, and the government must publish within 28 sitting days.
#uk-parliament #intelligence-and-security-committee #diplomatic-appointments #document-disclosure #national-security-redactions
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