Jason Sugarman is the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for the Lewes Constituency

I HAVE been deeply shocked and angered by the MP's expenses scandal, and it is disappointing to see our local LibDem MP managed to charge thousands of pounds for using his home as an office and attempted to use his expenses allowance to buy a bicycle, and a computer for his personal use.

He is one of the most expensive MPs in the House of Commons and has admitted to charging for food during the summer recess.

How can we rebuild trust in politicians of all parties? At a time when we are in the depths of an economic crisis, and we have a crisis of government, faith in the ability of the State to govern well has all but disappeared.

While the parliamentary expenses scandal has brought matters to a head, this is a culmination of a long period of increasing disillusionment, shown by opinion polling and in the steadily declining turnout in elections.

In June two out of every three voters stayed at home in the EU elections.

Even before the bank bailout last year, spending by government had increased by 40% in real terms since 1997 (2007-8 £583 billion - £408 billion in 1997/98).

Labour has taken power away from the people with new levels of bureaucracy and nearly one thousand quangos spending £64 million.

They have overseen the creation of huge state data bases to no effective purpose, reams of new regulations on child rearing, crime prevention, environmentalism, road safety and many more which have intruded into our lives. As this increase in government activism has increased, so public confidence has fallen.

There has been extreme regulatory failure at the highest levels. For example, the Financial Services Authority failed to act and observe on the banking sector in the period leading up to the 2008 crisis. We read daily of the failure of regulatory agencies in so many areas.

To change this we need to consider the formula: More government = worse government. David Cameron promises a "post-bureaucratic age", less information and compliance from citizens.

A post-bureaucratic government will give people access to information and more control over their own lives. Labour belatedly has announced that it too will empower "parents, pupils and patients". But as a senior government official told the Financial Times on the 29th June 2009; "there is a fixation on producing endless policy documents- a total lack of interest in delivery".

David Cameron has obliged his MPs to publish their expenses "on line" and he will ensure senior public sector officials would do the same. He will publish major public spending items "on line" for scrutiny from the electorate, an important step on the road to smaller, more honest government.

Reduced state control; decreasing the size of government and its departments, where possible the abolition of quangos; much greater discretion for charities; the abolition of databases and the handing back to citizens their personal data may begin to rebuild trust in political parties and start to reduce the state's involvement with our everyday lives. It may also help to pay off the huge debts that Gordon Brown has bequeathed to the next generation by his wasteful spending.


Ian Eiloart is a Liberal Democrat councillor for Priory ward and a Lewes District councillor

The press, and politicians have been worried that loss of trust in politics would mean low election turnouts, or a boost to minor parties.
Neither happened in June, but it's wrong to draw comfort from that.

June's Euro election turnout was 1.2 million down on 2004's record high. But that was because 1.3 million Labour voters didn't turn up.

They were probably at home wondering how the supposed representatives of the poor could be claiming grocery bills on expenses, while increasing taxes for the lowest paid!

Unfortunately, the low Labour vote let two BNP members get elected. There's more about this at ianeiloart.blogspot.com

But other parties' votes seemed unaffected by the expenses scandal.

Cameron publicly chastised some miscreant Tories, and his supporters may be less sensitive to the issues. Lib Dem supporters saw that all our MPs have consistently voted for publication of expenses; they hadn't 'flipped' second homes, not one of our London MPs had the second homes that others found so essential; and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg was quick to urge sensible changes to the system.

Locally, people remember Norman Baker speaking for five hours opposing a Tory move to exempt MPs from the Freedom of Information Act.

But, the thing is, there was already a serious problem with trust. UK turnout in Euro elections has always been low, and could hardly get lower.

More worryingly, general election turnouts have plummeted to a post-war low of 60 per cent.

The mistrust isn't new, but is now probably more concrete. I think there are three reasons.

First, there's little point voting if you can't see a difference between the candidates. The unfair voting system has meant that Labour have abandoned their left wing, and the Tories their right, knowing that smaller parties can't steal away those votes.

Unfortunately, Blue Labour and the Red Tories have both followed the same economic policies of boom and bust. While Lib-Dem spokesman Vince Cable was warning of the debt bubble in 2003, the two main parties buried their heads in the sand and let the bubble burst.

Second, in the last general election, turnout was 15% lower in safe seats than in marginals, proving that people don't trust our voting system.

A fairer voting system would mean no safe seats, and more choice for voters.

Most importantly, we need to earn the personal trust of voters. Only one in ten voters have ever spoken to an MP or councillor.

We all need to be involved with residents associations, local charities, campaigns and other groups. We need to understand and use new technologies like blogs, Facebook and Twitter, as well as more traditional media like this column! Of course, trust is a two way street.

If politicians don't trust people, then why would people trust politicians?

We have an incredibly centralised system of government, because first Thatcher, then Blair have stripped local authorities of important powers.

We need to give those powers back, so that local politicians can be effective.

What do you think about this? Can politicians win back trust? Leave a comment below or email steve.holloway@sussexnewspapers.co.uk