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Ministers have blown an estimated £30,000 trying to keep top Tory Andrew Lansley's diaries secret from the public, campaigners revealed today.

Maurice Frankel, head of the Campaign for Freedom of Information (FoI), told MPs how the Government has blown vast sums on lawyers' fees trying to stop the former Health Minister's diary being made public.

Ministers are now considering ways to scupper Labour's decade-old FoI law to prevent more embarrassing secrets coming out.

"We've seen a series of appeals on a decision regarding Andrew Lansley's diaries," Mr Frankel said.

(Image: Getty)

“We've asked for the costs of the Government's legal advice, which they've refused to disclose.

“I estimate the costs are probably close to £30,000 - and still going up.”

Health campaigners have been fighting for years for the release of the Ministerial diaries of Lord Lansley, who was finally sacked in July 2012 and is now a Tory peer.

They want to see which lobbyists and private health firms he met with in the run-up to his hated Health and Social Care Act 2012, which opened the NHS up to further privatisation.

(Image: PA)

A landmark ruling at a Freedom of Information tribunal in April found the public have every right to see his and other Ministerial diaries.

But the Government has now taken the case to the Court of Appeal.

Mr Frankel said it was ironic that Ministers claim FoI laws are too expensive to administer and must be scaled back - while at the same time blowing vast sums of taxpayers' cash on court cases to keep information private.

“(They) talk about the 'burden of FoI' – some of the burden is caused by authorities trying to resist disclosure beyond the point at which they should simply accept the decision,” Mr Frankel said.

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He was speaking in Parliament today at a cross-party commission set up by Labour to consider the effectiveness of FoI laws, ahead of the Government's proposed clampdown in the New Year.

Another witness, Lord Kerslake - who was head of the civil service from 2011-2014 - dismissed claims that FoI laws have a "chilling effect" on Government .

He said leaks from unreliable Ministers and special advisers were a much bigger problem for the Government than "vital" FoI laws and accused the Government of “double standards”.

And he slapped down his successor Sir Jeremy Heywood - dubbed 'Sir Cover-Up' by critics - for claiming FoI has a "chilling effect" on Whitehall.

(Image: Rex)

“I think much of this is in people's heads,” Lord Kerslake said.

FoI laws have been responsible for a raft of information being made public, from MPs' expenses to the hygiene inspections of hundreds of thousands of cafes and restaurants.

But Lord Kerslake added: “It's not just the individual cases – it has shifted the culture.

“I have lost count of the number of times I was in conversation about whether we should publish something or not, and people said - 'well we might as well publish it because it's going to be FoI-able'.

“It tips the balance towards openness. And that is fundamental.”

He accused David Cameron of making a “false move” in his plan to scupper FoI laws.

“We have in my view a yawning gap between governing and governed in this country,” the crossbench peer said.

“The only way we are going to restore that trust is become more accountable, not less.

“Anything that seeks to restrict that accountability is in my view a false move that will actually leave people jumping to their own conclusions about the people in power and how they operate.”