News from the New Party

New corruption figures highlight Kelly's Westminster failure

Data from non-governmental organisation Transparency International showing the UK slipping further down the Berlin-based organisation's 'corruption index'* further highlights the failure of Sir Christopher Kelly's report on MPs' expenses to tackle the root causes of Westminster excesses, New Party leader Richard Vass said today.

The perception of Britain as a corrupt nation is growing, according to the new report. Its authors blame MPs' behaviour over expenses for most of the damage and has recommend the UK take immediate action, highlighting the failure of confidence across the world in Kelly's report working to clean up Westminster.

 Transparency International's annual index, which measures people's perception of how corrupt a country is, shows Britain has slipped one place to 17th on the index, making it more corrupt than Japan, Hong Kong and Austria. Its corruption perception index is now 7.7. It's the lowest score since 1998.

The New Party today pledged support for the organisation's suggestion that MPs commit to the Seven Principles of Public Life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. Any MPs breaking the rules would be expelled from the party.

 "You would think these principles would be basic requirements for anyone in public office, but sadly it is necessary to point them out. The Kelly Report has failed to tackle the issues at the heart of the expenses scandal and has worked only to discourage well-meaning MPs from fighting for their seats at the next election.

"Adopting the principles outlined by Transparency International could help the UK restore its credibility as a champion of good governance both at home and abroad. We obviously cannot trust the system to fix itself. MPs should sign up today to show the world that the UK is not as corrupt as the minority of trough snuffling MPs lead the world to think it is."

*The least corrupt countries were New Zealand, with a score of 9.4, Denmark, with a score of 9.3, Singapore (9.2), Sweden (9.2) and Switzerland (9.0). You can access the report at www.transparency.org.