Letter: Chance to end the culture of cover-ups

Chance to end the culture of cover-ups

Sir: The revelation (7 March) of the failure of the Ministry of Agriculture to publish a report compiled two years ago which told of abattoirs that contained carcasses soiled with excrement and urine represents another nail in the Government's DIY coffin.

Although this oversight is only the latest episode in the catalogue of cover-ups that has characterised the Tory administration in recent times, it is also demonstrative of a rottenness festering at the heart of government - a culture of denial. Witness Nicholas Soames's cornered-animal behaviour over the use of organophosphates in the Gulf war.

Although the economy is poised to deliver prosperity the culture of cover- up and denial, adopted to protect the Conservatives' integrity, has in fact done the exact opposite. It has been seen for what it really is: an arrogant disrespect for democracy and the people of this country. This has had a profound effect on the electorate.

My only fear is that this culture may prove endemic to the British system of government and not one particular party. Labour, if they win, must prove otherwise, and this will be expedited by the implementation of a Freedom of Information Act.

PAUL CUMBERLAND

Faculty of Social and

Political Sciences

University of Cambridge