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06/02/2009: "Voters believe MPs corrupt - poll"

Almost 50% of people believe at least half of all MPs are corrupt, a BBC survey commissioned in the wake of the expenses scandal suggests.

It also points to strong support among the British public for taking away Parliament's power to police itself.

However despite weeks of damaging revelations about some MPs' expenses, 47% believed only "a few" were corrupt - and 3% believed none were.

Asked whether they trusted MPs to tell the truth, only 20% said they did and 76% said they did not - up from 60% three years ago.

[ The kind of people who are attracted to mainstream politics are corrupt and self-serving. The public senses this but oddly votes for them anyway. The more corrupt the politicians are and the more corruption the public tolerates, the more corrupt the public are themselves. After all, corrupt people don't hold their leaders to high standards. ]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8078159.stm