MPs' expenses - stopping the rot

Friday, 01 May 2009

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A statement from Chandrashekhar Krishnan, Executive Director of anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International UK:

“Regarding the UK’s parliamentarians as a body of honest and trustworthy men and women who act in the public interest, rather than for personal gain, is becoming increasingly difficult. Without trust in Parliament, democracy is tarnished and voter apathy encouraged.

”Official enquiries into individual cases must establish urgently whether the rules have been broken. But it is already evident from media reports that some MPs have tended to exploit the rules on expenses claims. That fuels the widespread and growing public perception that the UK Parliament is corrupt – a perception that is confirmed by findings from Transparency International’s most recent Global Corruption Barometer1. They show that political corruption in the UK is considered to be on the increase.

”Rebuilding public trust can only be done if politicians are beyond reproach, living up to the Nolan Principles of Public Life2 - Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty and Leadership.

”There needs to be a culture in which both the spirit and letter of the law are obeyed. It is surprising to see some MPs and commentators writing this off as a minor drama about insignificant sums of money. They miss the point: if MPs are to have legitimacy as lawmakers, they need to be exemplars of personal integrity.”

Transparency International (UK) is calling for five reforms to the system for MPs’ expenses:

  • A new set of independently-approved and unambiguous expenses rules – to eliminate grey areas and the potential for abuse.
  • Tighter and independent auditing of expense claims – particularly in controversial areas such as second homes and the employment of relatives.
  • Inbuilt transparency – to allow information of the type that has recently come to light to be freely – and routinely – available to the public.
  • Suspension from Parliament of any MP who has violated new rules on expenses once they are introduced.
  • Training for MPs to help them understand the rules for claiming expenses.

Notes

  1. Transparency International has been researching the issue of political corruption since 2003.  Its Global CorruptionReport http://www.transparency.org/publications/gcr/gcr_2004 focussed on defining and quantifying political corruption and issued seven recommendations for reform. Its Global Corruption Barometer http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/gcb publishes data on the views of citizens throughout the world.  An updated version of the Global Corruption Barometer is due to be published in June 2009.
  2. A summary of the seven Nolan Principles is at http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/parlment/nolan/nolan.htm