In a February letter to the Badger Trust, seen by the Guardian, officials at the environment department (Defra) argued that "advice from the NFU was so integral to the development of the cull policy" that it considered the NFU to be a part of the government in this instance, and would therefore not release its "internal" communications with the lobby group.
Where does this end? Who or what else, on what other issues, could become so 'integral to the development of [government] policy' that they should be 'considered ... to be a part of the government' and their advice should be hid from the electorate?
