Fran Boait: I hope MPs represent their constituents, not bankers

I hope our next government takes real steps to fix the crisis of faith in democracy. The unequal access which lobbyists, particularly those in the financial sector, gained to policymakers in the last parliament, be it through donations or lucrative paid positions amongst their ranks, left many of us feeling that calls for policies in the public’s best interest were falling on deaf ears. Positive Money has found that agents of the City, who we know push for weakened regulations of the banks and firms they represent, have more facetime with the Treasury than any other sector. The indulgence of such requests comes at an incalculable cost to the rest of us. We desperately need the next parliament to stand up to the finance lobby, and resist the allure of its cash. A ban on private-sector second jobs and caps on political donations seem like the least MPs can do to convince their constituents that they represent them, not bankers.

Fran Boait is co-director of campaign group Positive Money