Carole Ewart

Retaining, storing and managing the WhatsApp messages of ministers and civil servants to ensure the public record is accurate is hardly rocket science. Instead, the simple administrative process of copying content into the official systems has exposed the everyday roadblocks to transparency, accountability and scrutiny.

The right to participate in free elections, the right to receive and share information to form an opinion, the right to free expression and the right to freedom of belief are all human rights that have been lauded by the victors in the EU referendum. So it seems unlikely these rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) will be dumped, as initially threatened, when the UK Government launches a ‘Bill if Rights’ consultation.