Westminster has been accused of hypocrisy 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.
More at TLES.
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