Spotlight on Corruption strongly welcomes today's publication of
a new UK government anti-corruption
strategywith a comprehensive and wide-ranging set of 120
commitments. As global anti-corruption norms slide, tackling
corruption could not be more important to protecting our
democracy.
Along with our partners at the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition
we are encouraged by the high levels of political buy-in for
tackling corruption through this strategy, the commitment to beef
up anti-corruption enforcement, tackle professional enablers, and
show real global leadership. The evidence-based analysis for the
strategy provides a clear and robust framework for tackling
corruption at home, and globally, and the robust monitoring
mechanism for the strategy is particularly encouraging.
But in many areas – such as whistleblower protection and
preventing abusive litigation against public-interest reporting –
the strategy lacks clear timelines, and relies too heavily on
future reviews or undertakings to explore action. In some cases,
such as victims of corruption and a corruption reporting
mechanism, the commitments to action barely go beyond previous
anti-corruption strategies. Victims of corruption for instance
will need to wait two years before getting any guidance on how to
get compensation.
And in several areas, the strategy is seriously lacking. The
failure to make a concrete commitment to a major reform of the
lobbying regime is deeply disappointing given the serious
vulnerabilities that have been highlighted by multiple reviews. And the
lack of commitment to upgrade how conflicts of interest are
managed across the public sector – despite serious criticism by
the National Audit Office last
year – is a genuinely missed opportunity.
Recent scandals, from conflicts of interest in procurement as
revealed by the Sunday Times at the weekend,
to those in hospitality for politicians revealed in the Times today,
to the murky access to our political system for foreign firms
highlighted by Democracy for Sale last
week, show just how important tackling political integrity and
addressing conflicts of interest is. With the government's
own polling showing 85% of the
public are concerned by corruption in the public sector this must
be addressed as a priority.
Meanwhile, after recent corruption scandals involving
the Ministry of Defence, the
lack of concrete commitments by the department to address its
corruption and economic crime risks with defence spending set to
grow exponentially is a major gap.
Along with colleagues in the UK Anti-Corruption
Coalition, we urge the government to come forward with more
detailed implementation plans with clear timelines and concrete
next steps, and to ramp up ambition in delivering reforms to the
UK's political integrity.
Helen Taylor, Deputy Director of Spotlight on Corruption, said:
“The high-level political ownership of this strategy is a
welcome recognition of how vital the fight against corruption is
for fostering public trust in our democracy and building a
fairer, more prosperous future for all. But it is disappointing
that many commitments are not pinned to concrete actions or clear
timelines, leaving implementation up to little more than good
intentions. It is crucial the UK makes good on its aspirations to
genuine global leadership on tackling corruption and illicit
finance by speedy delivery.”
Notes to editors
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Spotlight on Corruption is
a charity that shines a light on the UK's role in corruption at
home and abroad by scrutinising the UK's anti-corruption laws
and international anti-corruption commitments, while monitoring
their implementation and enforcement.
