UK PM apologizes for lawmakers´ expense claims

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Source: CCTV.com | 05-12-2009 21:11

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the leader of the country's main opposition party have apologized for UK lawmakers' excessive expenses claims. They also pledged to overhaul the system and win back public trust.

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown delivers his address to the Royal College of Nurses congress in Harrogate, northern England, May 11, 2009. REUTERS/Phil Noble

Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister, said, "We also, as politicians have a responsibility to show that people who enter our profession are there to serve the public interest and not to serve themselves. And so I want to apologise on behalf of politicians on behalf of all parties, for what has happened in the events of these last few days."

The apologies follow days of embarrassing revelations about claims made by British legislators and government ministers.

They used public money to pay for items such as porn movies and horse manure. The expense details have been disclosed following a four-year campaign led by Heather Brooke, an American freedom-of-information advocate who lives in London.

Her applications for the details were blocked by Parliamentary authorities in 2005, but in 2008 she won a High Court ruling ordering the information published.

Full details of the expense claims will be released in July. Parliamentary authorities plan to allow outside auditors to check expenses claims in the future.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei