Following a landslide victory, the new Prime Minister, Starmer, faces the challenge of rebuilding public trust in politics, which has been eroded by recent scandals involving Conservative MPs. Transparency reforms are seen as a key step in addressing these concerns.
From the steps of Downing Street, the prime minister vowed to rebuild the public’s ‘lack of trust’ in politics with ‘actions not words’ following his landslide victory. A poll found the most common descriptor among Brits for Starmer ’s Labour was ‘dishonest’ – a word chosen by 36% of the public. A further 31% of the respondents thought the party is ‘only interested in themselves’, and the ‘same as the rest’.
A study also concluded in December that Starmer is more unpopular than any other UK prime minister has been during their first five months in office. Rishi Sunak has been found to have claimed more freebies than any other sitting MP between 2019 and September this year, with their total value coming to £107,145. That included multiple pairs of glasses for the PM himself, ‘work clothing’, football tickets, tickets to see Taylor Swift, and high-end outfits for his wife. Other recent scandals have involved Conservative MPs. Owen Paterson was accused of lobbying on behalf of Greensill Capital while making £3.3m from shares in the firm in 2021; then Tory MP Owen Paterson was accused of lobbying on behalf of Covid sanitising products in 2022 and being paid £57,000; and former Tory MP Scott Benton was accused of lobbying on behalf of a company that sells NHS products. According to the CEO of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), Alastair McCapra, Starmer can dispel any comparisons between his government and his last Downing Street predecessors pretty effortlessly by cranking up transparency in parliament. “If Starmer misses his chance, the next Westminster lobbying scandal cannot be far off, and public patience is pretty much exhausted” “Lobbying reform isn’t expensive,” McCapra told HuffPost UK. “It isn’t being opposed by the lobbying industry, quite the contrary. To deliver on voters’ expectations, it seems an easy one to tick off. Perhaps the New Year will bring a spring to Keir Starmer’s step and he will make this a serious priority.” There seems little doubt that this would only boost Starmer’s public image, according to CIPR’s own research
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