[hogFeast]

The reason why the FOI exception exists is because that is how the scheme ran in the US, and having political pressure on this program will kill it.

Also, remember that FOI isn't some magic tool for stopping corruption. Blair brought it in, and has said several times that it needs to be changed. FOI isn't public oversight.

The Conservatives are not proven to be corrupt. This self-evidently not true because no-one has proved it.

[pbhjpbhj]

The thing about democracy is you're not supposed to be able to force the public to do things they don't want.

If Tories believe an agency without oversight is in the public interest they're supposed to come to the public, get a mandate for that, win support. I strongly suspect this is vehicle for backhanders, but even if it weren't then in a democracy they're care to win approval first.

If it's worth doing, it's worth knowing the cost of. I'm happy to explore having a low-financial return science/engineering group funded by pubic money ... but only if it's completely transparent (financially and politically).