Rishi Sunak’s Government is ‘Institutionally Corrupt’ Say Voters

A majority of voters believe that Rishi Sunak’s Government is “institutionally corrupt” according to an exclusive new poll for Byline Times.

The Prime Minister has promised to lead a Government based on “integrity” and “accountability”.

However, according to our poll 53% of voters told pollsters Omnisis that they agreed with the statement that the UK Government is now ‘institutionally corrupt’, with just 15% disagreeing.

The poll also found that most voters believe that corruption in Government has got worse in the UK over recent years.

57% said they believed the level of corruption in Government had increased in their lifetime, with only seven per cent saying it had decreased instead.

Earlier this year the UK achieved its worst ever level in Transparency International’s Global Corruption Perceptions Index, with only four other countries – Qatar, Myanmar, Azerbaijan and Oman – seeing their rankings decline by as much.

Our poll findings come after Sunak’s Government was also criticised by an international body for failing to implement required anti-corruption measures.

The Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) which the UK is a member of, said in a report last week that the UK was “not in sufficient compliance” with all of its recommendations after it failed to fully implement a series of measures designed to tackle corruption in its Government and policing bodies.

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In particular they singled out Sunak’s refusal to impose formal sanctions on ministers who breach post-Government appointment rules when leaving office in order to enter the private sector. 

In recent years multiple Government ministers, including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson have been criticised for ignoring existing rules.

As Byline Times reported this week, Sunak’s Government is also expected to next week reject a series of amendments to its Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill when it returns to the House of Commons.

The series of amendments, which were passed by the House of Lords in order to toughen up the Bill’s attempt to root out dirty money from the UK, are due to be thrown out by the Government.

Sunak was also criticised on Thursday for appointing Grant Shapps as his new Defence Secretary, despite historic questions over his honesty and integrity as an MP.

In 2015 he was forced to admit that he had used a fake name in order to pursue a secret second career as a ‘millionaire web marketer’ running a get-rich-quick scheme.

This activity was alleged to have continued after he first became an MP in 2005.

However, Shapps denied the claim for three years and even threatened legal action against one of his constituents for making it, before his ‘Michael Green’ pseudonym was ultimately exposed and confirmed by the Guardian.

The appointment also drew criticism from inside Sunak’s own party with Conservative MPs briefing that Shapps was too inexperienced for the job, not having been known for his interest in defence issues prior to his appointment.

Asked by Omnisis on Thursday whether Shapps was qualified for the job of Defence Secretary, just 15% of voters told the pollsters that they believed he was, with most voters (54%) unsure either way.