TRANSPORT union Aslef demanded to know what the Prime Minister had to hide yesterday after reports he personally blocked proposals to bring taxpayer-backed Network Rail under freedom of information laws.

From September 1, accounting changes will see the infrastructure firm formally added to the government’s books as a public body.

But Lib Dem Justice Minister Simon Hughes, who is reportedly pushing for a big expansion of FoI laws, said that plans for the 100 per cent taxpayer-funded body to come under the scope of FoI legislation next month had been scuppered from “somewhere in Tory central command.”

Press reports have cited sources who say that David Cameron intervened personally.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan demanded answers.

“We think it’s great that 50 per cent of Britain’s railways are to be brought back into public ownership — and we think it’s ironic that such a big chunk of the railway is to be renationalised by a Tory government — but it’s wrong that Network Rail is to be excluded from freedom of information,” he said.

“Why? What has this government got to hide?

“What are they not telling us? And what do the Conservatives not want us to know?”

Until now most private firms tied to the public purse have been able to escape FoI scrutiny by claiming “commercial confidentiality,” leaving bodies such as councils and the NHS the sole targets of a politically motivated right-wing media.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling is reportedly poised to publish proposals for a limited expansion of information laws.