Politics: UK's most corrupt sector

Tuesday, 02 June 2009

The latest worldwide opinion poll exploring citizens’ views and experiences of corruption reveals disturbing findings for the UK, a country often considered squeaky clean.

The 2009 Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) published today (3 June) by Transparency International (TI), the global anti-corruption watchdog, documents the public’s experience of bribery and their perception of corruption across key sectors of British public life. More than 1,000 UK adults were polled by TNS-global in late November 2008 for their views.

The Barometer reveals the extent to which key sectors of British public life – and politics in particular - were seen to be tainted by corruption before the peers-for-sale and MPs’ expenses scandals came to light.

From political parties, parliament and the civil service to business, the media and the courts, UK citizens gave their highest corruption rating to political parties. On the TI corruption scale of 1 to 5 - where 1 denotes ‘not at all corrupt’ and 5 ‘extremely corrupt’ – political parties scored 3.6.

But the reputations of British business and the media aren’t much better. They scored a close second to political parties, with a 3.5 rating. Parliament scored 3.3, making it the sector third most affected by corruption in the public’s eyes.

On a more positive note, the public rated the judiciary the least corrupt sector in British public life with a score of 2.8.

Commenting on the findings Chandrashekhar Krishnan, Executive Director of Transparency International UK, said:

‘The UK must now lay to rest its historical complacency over corruption. It is clear that there is
corruption in the UK as elsewhere. And – as the MPs’ expenses scandal shows – corruption is
uncomfortably close to the heart of the British establishment.

‘It’s important now  to understand how, why and where corruption occurs in  the UK. That’s why
Transparency International UK is embarking on the first ever, in-depth research into corruption in
the UK.  We’ll be reporting our findings and recommendations next year.’

Notes to editors

1. More information on the Brussels and Paris launch of the full 2009 Global Corruption Barometer Report is at http://www.transparency.org/index.php/news_room/latest_news/press_releases/2009/2009_05_13_media_adv_gcb
2. The full report of Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2009 is at www.transparency.org
3. The UK findings are from the Country/Territory tables in Appendix D of the full report - attached to this news release (below).
4. Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2009 highlights everyday experiences with bribery, people’s views on private sector corruption and corruption levels in six institutions (political parties, public officials/civil servants, parliaments/legislature, business, judiciary and media). It is one of three key indicators devised by Transparency International  - the global coalition against corruption  - to help monitor corruption across the world. More information about other TI indicators – the Corruption Perceptions Index and the Bribe Payers Index – are at http://www.transparency.org/index.php/policy_research
5. FAQs on the Global Corruption Barometer are attached to this press release (below).

Attachments:

Appendix: Tables by Country/Territory	151 Kb
Frequently Asked Questions	113 Kb