theSun | MONDAY MAY 18 2009 7

news without borders

UK voters to punish
MPs over expenses
LONDON: Britain’s main po-
litical parties are likely to cede
ground to marginal groups at
next month’s European elections
because of public anger over a
far-reaching expenses scandal,
opinion polls showed yesterday.
Newspapers reported Queen
Elizabeth had expressed concern
to Prime Minister Gordon Brown
over the disclosures, which have
stained parliament’s reputation
and angered Britons at a time
when many are losing their
homes and unemployment is
soaring.
The ruling Labour party has
been hardest hit by disclosures
in the Telegraph newspaper
of extravagant and at times
bizarre expenses claims made
by members of parliament. La-
bour has suspended two MPs
and a junior minister is under
investigation.
A ComRes poll for the Inde-
pendent yesterday showed two
in five voters would abstain or
back a minor party rather than
vote for Labour, the Conserva-
tives or the Liberal Democrats.
“I can’t remember any time
when the minor parties were at
anything like this level,” ComRes
boss Andrew Hawkins said.
A BPIX poll for the Mail on
Sunday newspaper showed La-
bour falling to stand level with
the anti-European Union UK
Independence Party. Both parties
stand to win 17% of the vote in
European elections on June 4,
the poll showed.
A week ago, Labour was
predicted to win 23% and UKIP
stood to win just 10%. Support for
the main opposition Conserva-
tives has slumped to 30% from
36%.
The Green party and the far-
right British National Party also
stand to benefit, a PoliticsHome.
com poll showed.
In the parliamentary election
due by June 2010, polls point to a
big win for the Conservatives as
voters grow increasingly dissat-
isfied with a Labour government
in power since 1997.
Pressure is mounting on the
Speaker of the House of Com-
mons, Michael Martin, over
his handling of the expenses
affair.
“The Speaker should have
been at the forefront of finding
a solution, but has sadly become
part of the problem,” Liberal
Democrat MP Jo Swinson told
the Observer newspaper.
“It is time for him to go.”
The Times newspaper said a
motion of no confidence against
Martin could be tabled by some
MPs as early as today.
Fraser Kemp MP claimed for
two DVD players a month apart
from each other and 16 bedsheets
in seven weeks.
He has promised to pay the
money back, the Sunday Tel-
egraph said. – Reuters

briefs
Series of quakes rattles Alaska
WASHINGTON: A series of moderate earthquakes as
strong as 5.9-magnitude shook the southern edge of the
US state of Alaska on Saturday off the coast of Kodiak
Island, seismologists said.
The US Geological Survey reported that the strong-
est quake struck at 18.22 GMT (2.22am yesterday in
Malaysia) in the Gulf of Alaska some 98km southeast of
Kodiak, an island of about 14,000 people that serves as
a popular eco-tourism destination.
The temblor occurred at a depth of 12km about
560km southwest of Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage.
Several quakes of magnitude 5.0 or higher rattled the
region in the minutes and hours before the 5.9 quake.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or
damage in the area from the “swarm” of more than two
dozen earthquakes which occurred off Kodiak Island in Utar
recent days, an official at the USGS said. – AFP. receives
RM1.25m
Kuwait women enter parliament, endow-
KUWAIT: Women won four seats in Kuwait’s parlia- ment
ment, a first in the Gulf Arab state’s history, but with
many of the same faces back, Saturday’s election is pg 9
unlikely to end a political deadlock that has delayed
economic reforms.
Sunni groups lost some ground while Shi’ites
and liberals made small gains, but analysts said the
changes were not enough to end a long-running
standoff between parliament and government that
has pushed Kuwait from one crisis to the next.
“This is a step forward, this is a historic election...
but the so-called deadlock MPs are also back and
we hope they change course,” said Ali al-Baghli, a
former oil minister.
Kuwait’s ruler, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah,
called the election after dissolving the assembly two
months ago to end its standoff with the cabinet,
which includes ruling family members.
The move allowed the government and ruler to
push ahead with a US$5 billion economic stimulus
package to soften the effects of the global financial
crisis, which had faced opposition in parliament. The
new assembly must now vote on the plan. – Reuters