Britain hits lowest ever score on global corruption index

Get the free Morning Headlines electronic mail for information from our reporters the world over

Sign as much as our free Morning Headlines electronic mail

Britain has fallen to its worst-ever rating on a global corruption index with consultants calling for “urgent action” from ministers to revive confidence in political and public life.

The nation was ranked twentieth out of 181 international locations within the Transparency International’s corruption notion index in 2023, down from 18th in 2022.

Britain, which is now under international locations reminiscent of Seychelles, Uruguay and Estonia within the rating, has been rocked by a string of scandals in current months, from authorities procurement through the pandemic to a Post Office “cover up” through the Horizon scandal.

Daniel Bruce, chief government at Transparency International UK, mentioned: “The continued fall in the UK’s score shows a country heading in the wrong direction. It’s clear that business leaders and other experts are more concerned than ever about political corruption and the abuse of public office in the UK.”

The whole corruption perceptions index score awarded to Britain was 71 out of 100. It additionally comes amid rising considerations over the UK authorities’s method to corruption, regardless of Rishi Sunak’s promise of a authorities of “integrity and professionalism”.

The UK remains to be with out an anti-corruption champion 15 months into his management. The final champion was MP John Penrose.

The index comes days earlier than the Covid-19 inquiry will examine the alleged scandals over profitable authorities contracts to supply private protecting gear (PPE) and the federal government’s so-called VIP lane.

This month, an inquiry into the Post Office Horizon Scandal heard how the Cameron coalition authorities knew bosses had lined up errors with defective laptop programs in branches.

Last yr, Rishi Sunak confronted heckling and mockery from the general public as he defended the federal government’s dealing with of the contaminated blood scandal, which noticed hundreds of individuals die and others proceed to endure after being given contaminated blood merchandise within the Nineteen Seventies and Nineteen Eighties.

Mr Bruce mentioned: “These findings should be a wake-up call for government. We need urgent action from ministers – not just words – to restore much-needed confidence in the integrity of political and public life.”

Transparency International mentioned that whereas information reveals that “perceptions of bribery generally are improving”, there are mounting considerations administration of public funds resulting from “cronyism in politics”.

Globally, the CPI common score stays unchanged at 43 for the twelfth yr in a row. More than two-thirds of nations are seen to have a critical corruption drawback, scoring under 50. Denmark tops the index with a score of 90. Meanwhile, Somali has is ranked the lowest with a score of 11, whereas South Sudan and Syria share a score of 13.

A UK authorities spokesperson mentioned: “Integrity, professionalism and accountability are the core values of this government and we have robust safeguards to protect our institutions from corruption. Our forthcoming anti-corruption strategy will outline the UK response to strengthen resilience against corruption in the UK and internationally.

“Our controls over fighting economic crime, including fraud and corruption remain among the strongest in the world and last year we announced plans to strengthen our ethics and integrity through reforming business appointment rules, increase transparency and accountability in public appointments, and improve the quality and accessibility of departmental transparency releases.”