Why trust matters

@LabourList Editorial

The scandal over MPs’ expenses – and it is a scandal – is a symptom of our democracy’s deep inertia, and will have severe consequences for the future of our politics.

Three weeks before crucial elections – at a time when the BNP is veiling a divisive and intolerant agenda by fixing people’s broken fences and tending to the everyday needs of the electorate – our mainstream leaders have embroiled themselves in yet another undignified affair that puts people of integrity off politics altogether.

Claims for moats, domestic staff and confectionary have shown that a number of our MPs are simultaneously extravagant and cheap. Worse, they have shown that our elected representatives are massaging an exclusive and autonomous class, whose standards make a mockery of working people’s graft and whose ethics negate the very fairness and justice our politics purport to uphold.

But the most damaging long-term effect of this week’s dishonourable till-dipping is not merely that we are having our pockets picked at a time of national anxiety and genuine economic hardship by those who seek to speak on our behalf, though that is bad enough.

Rather, the most damaging effect is that as we rise to the challenges we face in the months and years ahead, trust is sure to be a most precious commodity.

On economic recovery, on climate change and on the provision of critical frontline public services, the state cannot and should not act alone. Meeting these challenges will require the collaborative efforts of citizen and government, and it will require civic partnership and parliamentary leadership. We will need our MPs to work together to make honest recommendations based not on individual interest, but on the collective requirements and aspirations of the nation.

But without public belief in their judgement and conscience, politicians lose any claim they can make to be leaders. The result is that as our frustration becomes malignant, our progress plateaus and our democracy increasingly frays.

It will take several years to rebuild that trust, and there are no quick fixes, but something less than posturing must be done now to start the process. Members repaying expenses merely as a consequence of being caught will not re-earn the belief our system so badly needs, nor will the squirm of reactionary and triangulated tax contributions or belated parliamentary suspensions.

Jessica Asato’s suggestion that this is the time for Labour to regenerate by selecting unblemished youth would be a sure start. But a few honest new faces in parliament cannot completely cleanse the integrity of a system that has been buckled and buckled again under the weight of years of dishonesty.

What our unwelcoming democracy needs now is reinvigoration, and for those who believe in it to step up and get involved to help enact the change our tired system craves. Labour’s grassroots can lead the way, by calling loudly for a firmer wielding of the electoral mandate to enact a positive legislative agenda that reaffirms our parliament as a force for good.

Given the circumstances, a constitution that reaffirms our collective aims and the jurisdiction of parliament might be the right place to begin.