With the ongoing Leveson Inquiry into press standards putting media practices firmly in the spotlight, this week also saw public attitudes to politicians under scrutiny once more.

Yesterday the National Centre for Social Research published the latest edition of the British Social Attitudes Survey. Among other things, this charts the movements in public confidence in politics.

As we reported at the time, last year’s study found that trust in the government had sunk to an all-time low, with just 16 per cent reporting that they trusted ministers ‘just about always’ or ‘most of the time’.

Superficially at least, this year’s report shows something of an improvement in our faith in the government.

20 per cent of those quizzed for the latest study said that they trusted government always or most of the time, whereas the proportion reporting that they ‘almost never’ trusted ministers fell from 40 per cent last year to 33 per cent this year.

Certainly this might in part be a sign that the public is beginning to forgive and forget MPs for the expenses scandal that set the tone for the low watermark for trust set in 2009. The most recent set of results reports a similar situation to that recorded in 2006, before the expenses scandal had come to light.

However upon closer inspection this news is not quite as good for politicians as it might at first appear.

Commenting upon the figures, Research Consultant John Curtice noted that trust in government always tends to improve following a general election, and the 2010 results are no different. In fact, this bounce seems less pronounced than it has been in previous years.

Instead, Professor Curtice argues that we should focus on “the level of trust in 2010 with the position after other previous elections.” His conclusion is that it is “clearly lower”.

While this situation is certainly lamentable, it is not inevitable. The UK routinely finds itself bottom of the Edelman Trust Barometer when it comes to faith in the institutions of politics. Clearly there are lessons that can be learned from abroad about restoring trust.

One of the themes identified by Professor Curtice in the report is “the potential of the internet to increase levels of trust and participation in politics.”

Certainly the net does offer government the possibility to be more transparent in its business. The present Government has pledged to ‘open up’ information to the public online, and we’ve found that (with encouragement) this can make a real difference. For example, the Department for Work and Pensions now publishes the research it used previously to provide only to the media on its website at our request, which has made it possible to judge claims printed in the press on their merit.

The Committee for Standards in Public Life has identified “telling the truth” as one of the top priorities the public has for improving politics.

Full Fact was set up with this in mind. While the decline in trust noted by the British Social Attitudes Survey is often cause for consternation in Westminster, it is less often asked whether or not it is reasonable for the public to trust what they are told by politicians and the media. Too often the answer is still no.

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