Sleaze watchdog reveals why we don't trust MPs

Public trust in politicians has been virtually wiped out in the wake of the Hutton Inquiry and Tony Blair's claims about Saddam Hussein's weapons, a major new report revealed today.

The three-year-long study by Parliament's anti-sleaze watchdog found that only 27 per cent of people expected MPs of any party to tell the truth, well below local councillors and even some journalists, the Evening Standard can reveal.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life concluded that voters now want ministers to be much more honest about their policies.

In a key finding that will increase pressure on Mr Blair to apologise over the failure to find weapons in Iraq, the research concludes that most of all, the public want politicians to own up to their mistakes.

The study found voters' views had been influenced most by the three factors: the war on Iraq, the Hutton Inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly and the Government's infamous dossier on Saddam's alleged arsenal. Other issues that have undermined public confidence are the Jeffrey Archer scandal, the MMR debate and the Neil Hamilton and Jonathan Aitken affairs.

The committee, which was set up in the wake of the sleaze scandals of John Major's government, hired pollster BMRB to conduct the research in March 2003.

It found that while 47 per cent of people trust their local MP, only 27 per cent trust MPs in general. Among the other findings are strong worries that cronyism infects many public bodies and that MPs put their party interest above the public interest.

Most people also think it important that MPs maintain "high standards" in their private as well as public lives and a majority think politicians have to accept media scrutiny of all their conduct.

Committee chairman Sir Alistair Graham said today that its own "seven principles of public life" - integrity, objectivity, selflessness, accountability, openness, leadership and honesty - would have to be amended to reflect voters' increasing worries over MPs' truthfulness. The committee's definition of honesty currently focuses only on narrow issues of conflicts of interest.

Sir Alistair said: "I would urge all those in public life to reflect on the findings and consider how their own behaviour matches up to the expectations placed upon them by the public."

The research, which will be repeated every two years, concludes that there had been "a shift in emphasis from sleaze to spin as the key public concern in relation to standards in public life".