The secrets of Margaret Thatcher’s years in power could be revealed sooner than expected and plans to restrict the remit of the Freedom of Information Act will be dropped, Gordon Brown announced yesterday.

The Prime Minister, continuing his efforts to regain the political initiative after the fiasco over the election that did not happen, suggested that the 30-year rule, which prevents the disclosure of confidential papers for three decades, might be cut to 20 years.

And he responded to media complaints by scrapping plans to change the way that the Freedom of Information Act works and extending the Act to other areas, such as private firms that do work in the public services.

At present, government departments have to answer requests that cost them less than £600 to process. But Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the former Lord Chancellor, proposed including in the costing the time taken to consider each request. This would have meant many more applications being turned down on cost grounds.

Under the proposed restrictions that Mr Brown has now ditched the public would never have been found out about matters such as who was entertained at Chequers, how many crimes were committed by foreign diplomats or how the performance of the Crown Prosecution Service varied according to the regions. Campaigners said that the restrictions were designed to save the Government from embarrassment after a series of damaging disclosures.

Opposition politicians, campaign groups and journalists would have had to ration requests to public bodies or risk their inquiries being rejected automatically. The Times would have been limited to two questions to a Whitehall department every 60 days.

Maurice Frankel, director of the Campaign For Freedom of Information, said: “We are very pleased that they are dropping the fees proposals and going in the opposite direction by investigating extending the Act to private bodies with public functions and contractors providing services.”

Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, said: “I warmly welcome the Prime Minister’s recognition of the Freedom of Information Act as a landmark piece of legislation. I am also relieved that the Government is withdrawing earlier proposals to change the current fees regime. The existing provisions can be used to deal with vexatious requests.”

Mr Brown has appointed a team headed by Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail and editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers, to review the 30-year rule. He has asked them to come forward with proposals in the first half of next year.

If the rule were to be cut to 20 years, papers from some of the most startling events of the Thatcher era could be swiftly thrown into the public domain. At present papers relating to events after 1977 cannot be disclosed automatically. But if a change were to happen next year documents about the Falklands War, the miners’ strike, and the Westland row would be released.

By the time of the next election, papers relating to Lord Lawson’s resignation and John Major’s decision to enter the ERM could be revealed.

Mr Brown’s announcements came in a speech on liberty at the University of Westminster. He said: “There is a case for applying our enduring ideas of liberty to ensure that laws governing the press in this country fully respect freedom of speech.

“The key is to achieve the right balance between freedom of the press, the protection of individual privacy, and public safety and security - and I believe there is more we can do to ensure that freedom of expression and legitimate journalism are protected.”

He added: “Public information does not belong to government, it belongs to the public on whose behalf government is conducted.”

He also said that plans to restrict media access to coroners’ courts would be scrapped.

On media payments to criminals he said that the Government’s preferred option “would be for the public to have the right through civil orders to recover payments made to people where these payments can be constituted as benefits of crime”.

He also announced plans to protect the privacy of members of the public, reducing the number of laws under which the authorities could enter-properties without permission.

There are now 250 provisions granting powers to enter homes or premises without permission. Those relating to the police would be reviewed by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, and the Association of Chief Police Officers to see whether all police powers could be brought under “a single understandable code”, he said.

Ms Smith would also hold a wider investigation into other powers of entry held by various bodies.

Mr Brown confirmed that the Information Commissioner would investigate whether both private and public sector information-gathering and storage gave people enough protection.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights pressure group Liberty, said: “After so many years of relentless political attacks on liberty, it is brave for any Prime Minister to give a speech in its name. He must be aware, however, that this does not sit well with detention without charge and compulsory identity cards. The standards, like the stakes, must now be raised.”

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