MPs water down bribery rules to 'wriggle out' of future charges

Outcry: Ken Clarke has been warned the Bribery Act will harm the economy
12 April 2012

Westminster was accused of hypocrisy today for changing the Bribery Act to let MPs claim parliamentary privilege if accused of corruption.

A clause that would have exposed MPs and peers to the full force of the law was struck out in the early stages of the Bill, against the advice of some officials.

Bizarrely, the decision means the law will clamp down harder on the bribery of foreign officials than on crooked payments to our own politicians.

Critics accused MPs of "wriggling out" of the rules they had set for everyone else, while the former chairman of the committee on standards in public life warned that MPs would be seen to be looking after their own interests rather than the electorate's.

The row comes three months before the Bribery Act is due to come into force. The legislation has sparked fears that vital exports and jobs will be lost as it criminalises gift-giving, "grease payments" and hospitality vital to doing business abroad.

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has been urged to stop the Act's introduction. He has received several freebies from businesses himself, including trips to Beijing and Moscow with his wife and the Singapore Grand Prix with his son.

MPs enjoy parliamentary privilege under the 1689 Bill of Rights, which prevents prosecutors from citing speeches and parliamentary questions in evidence against an MP or peer alleged to have sold influence for money.

In 2009 police decided not to pursue four peers caught by a newspaper boasting that they could influence legislation in return for cash, stressing the difficulty of "gathering and adducing evidence in these circumstances in the context of parliamentary privilege".

Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, said it was a mistake for MPs to have watered down the legislation.

"Coming shortly after the first Member of Parliament has gone to prison for defrauding the public purse, it is most unfortunate," he told the Standard.

"It will look like MPs are looking after their own personal interests instead of the wider public interest."

Disgraced former MP David Chaytor tried to save himself by claiming privilege over his Commons expenses, but Sir Alistair said the claim should be reserved for its original purpose of protecting free speech and debate.

Clause 15 of the draft Bribery Bill stated that an accused MP's speech or conduct could be used in evidence - but it was taken out after a joint committee of MPs and peers decided the principle of privilege was paramount.

Charlotte Linacre of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "It is hypocritical for MPs to wriggle out of these rules. They can't have one rule for them and another for everyone else."

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