Support for the amendment to the Freedom of Information Act that will exempt MPs from the regulations has dropped significantly and it looks likely that the bill will be rejected by the Lords.

That is assuming, of course, that the bill makes it that far because divisions within the Commons means that the bill may run out of parliamentary time and have to start again in the next session of Parliament if it can get enough support.

MPs supporting the amendment claim that the change in the law is necessary to protect communications from their constituents but this argument is deliberate misinformation.  The law already prevents disclosure of personally identifiable information – there is no need to change the law to allow MPs to operate in complete secrecy and to deliberately withhold information.