The refusal of the parliamentary authorities to grant a press pass to Declassified
Posted: 1st November 2025
When I was a serving Member of Parliament, one of the constant frustrations in Westminster was its opaque, alienating and archaic processes. Something you think would be simple and straightforward, becomes tiring and obfuscated by procedure. Opportunities are lost because of the rigid inner workings of the system making it purposefully impenetrable, especially if you want to hold people to account or change things.
In this light, I want to give you an update on the refusal of the parliamentary authorities to grant a press pass to Declassified – something which should be entirely simple in any proper democracy, but which predictably hasn’t been straightforward.
There are almost 500 journalists who have been given parliamentary press passes. But our journalists are not amongst them. Why not?
Chip in to support our workWhen we applied for a press pass the application was rejected, claiming that it was due to capacity and “limitations within the parliamentary estate”. However, documents released under a freedom of information request revealed a different story. There was no such limit.
You can read the details here, including internal emails discussing our application, which flag the “particular standpoint” of our investigations.
Since then, we have pursued publicly and privately the call for parliamentary authorities to review their decision and issue us with a press pass. We wrote a public letter, which gathered the support of more than 100 politicians, journalists, and campaigners and more than 5,800 declassified readers and supporters.
If you were one of the people who signed that letter, thank you very much, we really appreciate your support!
After submitting the letter to the Serjeant at Arms at parliament and to Lisa Nandy MP (and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport) we still have not been issued with a press pass.
We won’t let this drop and will continue to push for press access to, yes, carry out our journalism fastidiously and also in the name of press freedom.
Could you help us encourage your MP to sign this?
An Early Day Motion has been tabled in parliament entitled: Media Plurality and Press Freedom, in support of our application. It reads
“That this House urges the relevant parliamentary authorities to provide independent media outlet Declassified UK with a parliamentary press pass to ensure media plurality and press freedom.”
It would be brilliant if you could encourage your MP to sign this motion in support of our application.
To check who your MP is, go to:https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP
You can also listen to one of the sponsors of this motion, Jeremy Corbyn, talk about why he tabled the motion here.
Your continued support of our journalism and holding powerful people to account is deeply appreciated.
Best wishes,
Laura
Laura Pidcock
Co-director
Declassified UK