Facts

Whilst discussing Sky News’ new tool “The Westminster Accounts” - an interactive database that lets you search for information about the earnings and donations declared by any MP, political party or donor - Prime Minister Sunak stated that “I think transparency is really important for the healthy functioning of democracy”.

Over the past year, Rishi Sunak and his government have been accused, on multiple occasions, of lacking transparency. To name a few occasions: 

When it was revealed that Rishi Sunak, and much of Whitehall, routinely used erasable ink pens to make hand-written notes on official documents and in government meetings. 

When it was reported that Rishi Sunak’s government placed a record number of blocks on freedom of information (FoI) requests in its first three months.

And finally, in June 2023, when Mr Sunak’s government refused to hand over internal WhatsApp messages requested by the Privileges Committee. The government then sought a legal challenge, which it lost. 

This is not a new problem for the Conservative government. A report titled Behind the screens - maintaining government transparency and data security in the age of messaging apps was published in July 2022 (when Boris Johnson was Prime Minister) by the Information Commissioner's Office. The report concluded that “The use of such channels presented risks to the confidentiality, integrity and accessibility of the data exchanged”.

Verdict

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says one thing and does another. 

We emailed Rishi Sunak’s office and Number 10 offering him the chance to respond. The email was received, but no reply.