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.”