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28 Oct, 8 tweets, 3 min read
🔴 A former Conservative minister who has criticised climate change policies and led calls to restart fracking has been paid £150,000 by an oil firm.

John Hayes has received a £50,000 salary from BB Energy since 2018.

~thread
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…
Hayes' register of interests says he currently earns £50,000 for about 11 days’ work a year.

This comes on top of his standard MP salary of £81,932
Founded in Lebanon, BB Energy is one of the world’s “leading independent energy trading companies”, trading more than 33 million metric tonnes of oil every year
When he was appointed, Hayes said he would “advise the company on strategic plans in the context of changes in the worldwide energy market”
Hayes declared his role at the oil trading firm, and there is no evidence that rules have been broken.

But campaigners say that questions will always be raised when MPs take second jobs
“MPs are elected to provide a voice for their constituents in Westminster, but when they also have lucrative side-jobs for private companies it raises questions over whose interests they are really serving,” said @TransparencyUK's Alex Runswick
During his time as energy minister, Hayes caused controversy by refusing to support any further expansion to onshore wind power, describing wind turbines as a “terrible intrusion”.

Read the full story by @adambychawski ⬇️
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…
If you enjoyed this article, sign up for our newsletter #ClimateUnspun: bit.ly/3DqsOsq

Over the next month, @AdamRamsay will be keeping you up to speed on #COP26

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More from @openDemocracy

openDemocracy Profile picture
27 Oct
🔴 REVEALED: 43 members of the House of Lords have a financial stake in the oil and gas industry, prompting accusations of “unethical” conflicts of interest.

~thread
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…
Analysis by @FerretScot shows that 33 Lords own shares worth at least £50,000 each, across 19 fossil fuel companies.

Ten more have jobs in the sector – advising firms, or acting as chair or director
Of the 43:

🔵 23 (almost one in ten) are Conservatives
🔴 3 are Labour
🟡 5 are Scottish politicians
⚪ 17 are without political affiliations
Read 6 tweets
openDemocracy Profile picture
26 Oct
🔴 LIVE: Our reporter @JennaCorderoy is about to give evidence to the @CommonsPACAC as part of its inquiry into the ‘Orwellian’ Clearing House.

You can watch it here: parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/04…

We will bring you all the key updates in this thread 👇 Image
This inquiry was launched after we revealed that the Clearing House - a secretive Cabinet Office unit - was accused of ‘blacklisting’ Freedom of Information requests from journalists, campaigners and others
opendemocracy.net/en/freedom-of-…
"The Cabinet Office is fuelling a culture of secrecy," explains @JennaCorderoy.

"It is simply not respecting the law."

When we raised our concerns in our reports #ArtOfDarkness and #AccessDenied, our findings were dismissed Image
Read 10 tweets
openDemocracy Profile picture
25 Oct
🔴 EXCLUSIVE: 2020 was the worst year on record for UK government secrecy.

Just 41% of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests sent to government departments and agencies were granted.

This is the lowest figure since records began in 2005.

~thread
Our new report, #AccessDenied, exposes the extent of the government's attack on FOI.

We found that some departments have far lower FOI disclosure rates than others, with the Foreign Office among the worst offenders, along with the Cabinet Office Image
Earlier this year, opinion polling conducted for us found that UK voters are seriously concerned by the government’s secrecy and its failure to answer FOI requests
opendemocracy.net/en/freedom-of-…
Read 9 tweets
openDemocracy Profile picture
6 Sep
🔴 A former UK electoral commissioner has condemned the UK government’s “appalling” plan to restrict the independence of the elections watchdog.

Professor David Howarth said the #ElectionsBill poses “serious threats to the fairness of all future elections in Britain”.

~thread
Writing for us, Professor David Howarth said that "many Conservative backbenchers have been gunning for the Electoral Commission ever since it made various decisions they didn’t like in the aftermath of the Brexit campaign"
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…
The #ElectionsBill is set to be debated in the Commons this week.

According to Howarth, it could subject the Electoral Commission to potential political oversight from government ministers
Read 7 tweets
openDemocracy Profile picture
24 Aug
Do you remember Palantir?

The ‘spy tech’ firm has been awarded more than £46m in public contracts by the UK government and NHS since the start of 2020.

Well, they made £22m in profits last year.

All the details in this thread 👇
First of all, let's look back at 2020.

Last year, we successfully sued the government, forcing it to commit to not extending Palantir’s contract beyond the COVID pandemic without a consultation
opendemocracy.net/en/ournhs/weve…
Palantir had increased its lobbying of Conservative ministers before being awarded a crucial NHS contract.

It embarked on a charm offensive to sell services to the NHS in 2019.

By January 2020, it was working on a product for the UK’s healthcare market
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…
Read 9 tweets
openDemocracy Profile picture
12 Jul
"By the time I came out of there, I weighed only 40kgs, could not speak well and only walked when supported."

We spoke to more than 50 survivors of anti-LGBT ‘#ConversionTherapy’ on a special investigation into these activities across East Africa.

~thread
Many of the interviewees said that family members had taken them to providers of this ‘therapy’.

LGBT identities are widely stigmatised in East Africa, and anal sex is criminalised and punishable with prison sentences in each of the three countries
opendemocracy.net/en/5050/conver…
Our undercover reporter was told that being gay is “evil”, something “for whites” and a mental health problem
Read 6 tweets

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