Open response, open recovery – but not for the UK?

UK Open Government Network
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Hello all,

Yesterday, the Open Government Partnership hosted a “Virtual Leaders Summit” that focused on ensuring “a full, fair, and inclusive response and recovery” to Covid. It included speeches by a number of heads of state, including Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, as well as other leaders from government and civil society: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/events/open-government-partnership-2020-virtual-leaders-summit/

I’m afraid the UK’s contribution left a lot to be desired. Lord Ahmad (Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth) made a pre-recorded speech that focused almost exclusively on how the UK supports open government around the world, without any acknowledgement of the government’s failings on openness at home or commitment to addressing them. I’ve outlined some of those failings in this thread on Twitter, but I’m sure you can all think of things I’ve missed: https://twitter.com/TimJHughes/status/1309193789509193728?s=20

The OGN steering group is having some discussion on what the OGN should do to highlight this chasm between the rhetoric of support for open government internationally and what’s actually happening at home. We’ll no doubt discuss that on the Zoom call that Kevin has mentioned, but any thoughts via this thread would be welcome as well.

Thanks,
Tim

2 Likes
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Dear Tim
Would it be worthwhile compiling a table of countries with open government ranking, compared to Covid 19 excessive mortality figures? Covid 19 country comparatives have been by a few credible international institutions (e.g. John Hopkins).

The table findings, if they show a correlation between open inclusive governance and effectiveness of response could be supported by a narrative highlighting the gap between UK government rhetoric and reality

Marcus

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Good idea!

Best wishes

Martin