The pledge

8.05.00am GMT Sat 6th Mar 2010

Local Liberal Democrat campaigner, Trevor Carbin, is making three pledges to local people about how he will act if he is elected as MP for South West Wiltshire in the General Election.

1. A full-time MP.

"If elected I will give up my business. I will not be paid for any job or activities outside of politics."

2. No profit from expenses.

"I will not use taxpayers' money to play the housing market - Wiltshire is close enough to London to make a second home unnecessary. I will only claim for expenses actually incurred to support my work on behalf of constituents, and will publish all my expense claims for everyone to see."

3. No family favour.

"I will never employ any family or household members using tax-payers' money. As your MP, I will conduct open recruitment for staff and advertise all permanent publicly-funded posts in local newspapers."

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Speaking about his decision to make these pledges Trevor said: "Like so many local people I was angered and disappointed by revelations about how irresponsible some MPs have been with our money.

"It doesn't have to be this way. I am making these pledges now to give local people confidence they can expect a high standard of behaviour from their next Member of Parliament.

"You deserve a full-time MP who is open about how they use your money, and who does not profit from it.

"We have heard too many excuses about what was 'within the rules', but put simply: your MP should know right from wrong. These are the standards you can expect from me."