MEETINGS between a Tory minister and a think thank have been deleted from public records.
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss’s recent talks with the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) were reclassified as personal discussions.
Two meetings, said to be about trade, had been noted in quarterly transparency data published on the UK Government’s website.
But the records were removed on Wednesday night, with an explanatory note stating they were personal discussions. It is the first such deletion since the Department for International Trade was established in 2016.
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Labour accused the minister of trying to hide the think tank’s influence on Government policy.
A spokesman for shadow trade secretary Emily Thornberry said: “It makes no sense for Liz Truss now to claim that meetings on those issues had nothing to do with her ministerial role, and suggests instead that she has something to hide, whether in terms of who attended the meetings or what specifically was discussed.”
The Department for International Trade told the Guardian that the meetings had been included on the public record as the result of an administrative error and that there was no information about them. It refused to explain how discussions about trade could be deemed to be a personal mater.
The IEA said it holds regular talks with UK ministers but did not give any details on the meeting with Truss. “By definition the private events we run do not involve the minuting or publication of the full, frank and free exchange of views which we try to ensure takes place,” a statement read.
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