Letter: Unfree information

Sir: A few years ago a number of leading Labour politicians and spokesmen from the Campaign for Freedom Information supported a proposed Freedom of Information Act with the claim that it would mean that the press would be able to uncover scandals such as "Arms to Iraq". They were naive.

The reality is that David Clark's proposal ("Freedom of information proposal gets high praise", 12 December) is loaded with so many exclusions - what does "national security" actually mean? - that in practice the press will still remain in the dark. The decision to exclude defence, foreign affairs and the security and intelligence services from its provisions means that this a pale shadow of, for instance, the American Freedom of Information Act, which is itself deeply flawed.

I recently received a bundle of documents from US Army Intelligence on a number of deceased British politicians and individuals. I received them within six weeks of the request and it cost me not "a nominal fee of pounds 10" but just the price of a stamp.

STEPHEN DORRIL

Holmfirth, West Yorkshire