UK Edition
UK takes one step down in global corruption rankings
The UK has slipped one place down a respected league table of global corruption levels, marking the third straight year in which the country's score has worsened.
Public sector corruption is seen as having worsened over the latest year in Britain, according to Transparency International's annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which measures the perceptions of people in business.
The UK is ranked 12th least corrupt country in the world. That compares to 11th in 2018 and eighth in 2017. The UK scored 77 on a scale in which zero counts as "highly corrupt" and 100 counts as "very clean". It scored 80 in 2018 and 82 in 2017.
Its score was affected by the results of the World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey, which includes questions about the risks of doing business in various jurisdictions.
The average score out of the 180 countries scored for the CPI was 43, with two-thirds of countries scoring below 50. New Zealand and Denmark had the highest score at 87, while Syria, South Sudan and Somalia had the lowest scores from 13 to 9. Venezuela fell from 18 to 16.
Transparency International said that since 2012, only 22 countries had significantly improved their score, while 21 had significantly declined. "A staggering number of countries are showing little to no improvement in tackling corruption," it added.
Corruption and the economic and social problems to which it contributes has sparked protests around the word over the latest year including in Beirut, Lebanon, and Santiago, Chile.
Daniel Bruce, chief executive of Transparency UK, said that, along with the UK's domestic challenges, corruption abroad also posed risks when it comes to exports.
He said: "These results are a stark reminder that there is no room for complacency in the fight against global corruption.
"While the UK made some significant strides to tackle dirty money in recent years, it is deeply concerning to see its score relating to perceived public sector corruption stagnating.
"If the UK tackles bribery and other corruption risks with greater vigour, then it will benefit both businesses here in the UK and well as people in countries feeling the worst impacts of corruption.
"Corruption costs lives and destroys many more; now is not the time to neglect the challenge this presents.”