UK's Anti Corruption Bill

There are those who will find it ironic that the current UK government, which may not be especially financially corrupt but is without doubt a government most easily influenced by vested interests in recent times, and one which habitually rewards its supporters with benefits paid for directly or indirectly by the public purse, has introduced a bill against corruption.

The Bill has been published by the UK's Home Office by Lord Falconer. In accordance with government policy, Falconer has been promoted from the debacle with the Millennium Dome (which remains a drain on the taxpayer and about which debate in the House of Commons has been stifled) and he is now in charge of the anti-corruption project.

Launching the Bill, Falconer said "This country is relatively free from corruption, but it remains an insidious threat, to which we need to be constantly alert. We are duty-bound to promote high standards of fairness and propriety and to ensure that UK citizens do not contribute to corruption either at home or abroad."

The definitions of corruption need to be wide to catch all that afflicts the UK. Local government has historically been controlled by small numbers of highly influential people. This is not a party political issue, it is a failure of democracy at a local level. In the past, local authorities would directly manage a wide range of services. Local government is run by local politicians who appoint committees from amongst their number. It used to be that the committees, in districts where local government was rarely subject to a change of control, that committees would become effectively private feifdoms. In one case, the political control of local public transport over a wide area was in the effective control of one family for more than ten years. The day to day management of the business was delegated to professional managers. However, this was subject to political interference in the award of contracts and in the negotiations over, for example, pay and conditions as well as disciplinary issues.

The new Bill deals with both domestic and foreign corruption. The UK has recently included within anti-terrorism legislation provisions to deal with foreign corruption. But the UK's anti-corruption legislation is, largely anachronistic and is scattered over many pieces of legislation. However, whether the attempt to bring them together under one roof, so to speak, is effective remains to be seen - the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 failed in its stated objective of collecting all provisions relating to proceeds of crime and money laundering, leaving some money laundering offences to be dealt with under legislation relating to specific offences.

The Government is not acting rapidly: it came to power in May 1997 largely basing its campaign on allegations of corruption in the former Conservative government, and that there was such is undoubtedly true. There was an Inquiry, The Nolan Commission on Public Standards, set up to investigate allegations of bribery of a politician and to examine the law relating thereto. The Nolan Commission was set up by the Conservatives whilst still in power, and following the publication of a Home Office consultation paper. The first Nolan report was published around the time of the change in government to the current Labour government. In June 1997, the Home Office (then under the control of Jack Straw, a Labour MP) published a statement called "The Prevention of Corruption - Consolidation and Amendment of the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889-1916". And there things lay for six years until the publication of the new Bill.