Newcastle North MP, Catherine McKinnell, has joined a cross-party coalition calling for the end of corrupt practices that steal $1trillion from the global economy every year.

Catherine, who is co-founder and co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Corruption, joined MPs from all major parties to back the global EXPOSED campaign, which calls for integrity in all areas of public life – six months ahead of a key gathering of world leaders at the G20 summit in Australia in November.

It is estimated that £3,000 a second is lost to corruption in Africa alone, and as much as $21trillion is kept in tax havens by the world’s super-rich.

The EXPOSED campaign is made up of a range of international organisations, including Micah Challenge, Salvation Army, Tearfund and Transparency International in the UK.  It has so far collected over 73,000 signatures across the world, calling on G20 leaders to take action so that all citizens in rich and poor communities can benefit from good governance.  The petition will be presented to the Australian Prime Minister in June, and to the G20 in November.

Catherine said:

‘Everyone knows that corruption is wrong. It keeps poor people poor, and allows rich people to capture both money and power.

‘Bribery, profit shifting, tax evasion and money laundering are just some of the many, highly complex ways that developing countries around the world are losing out on much-needed tax revenue.

‘We need firm agreement on tackling theses issues from the G20 leaders in November, if poorer countries are to be able to grow economically and ultimately see their dependence on aid reduce.’