Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

The Minister referred to this in a roundabout way at the end of his speech. He referred to the fear that politicians exercising decision-making powers might get thanks for spending money properly and wisely. He said that some people have placed an emphasis on an independent board and that it would make better decisions than those elected by the people. The Minister of State continued, "The logical inference of this is that those people believe that politicians are more venal and dishonest as a class of people than non-elected people." I have news for him: more and more people think this.