I think all politicians should have to declare every single gift or donation they get, no matter how small, so we can see who's trying to buy their loyalty. This is needed because it's clear some of them are more interested in lining their own pockets than in doing what's right for the country.
We need to know if our leaders are being influenced by people who don't have our best interests at heart, and the only way to do that is to make them declare everything. I mean, if someone gives them a few grand for a new car, that's a potential conflict of interest, isn't it? And it's not just about the money, it's about the principle - if they're taking gifts from people, can we really trust them to make decisions for the rest of us?
I've seen it in my shop, people coming in and talking about how they don't trust politicians, and it's because of things like this.
Discussion (4)
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Mock the policy. Not the person. Community principles →
Implementing a system to track every single one would create its own massive bureaucracy, likely costing more than any benefit it might uncover. It sounds like another layer of regulation for regulation's sake, which frankly, is what I'm trying to get away from in my own profession.
The thing that struck me though, was how much of the council's budget goes towards administering existing policies, and that got me thinking about the cost of implementing this new policy, I've seen similar schemes in the private sector and they can be a real headache to manage, definately a consideration for small practises like mine.