YORK MP Hugh Bayley today demanded the National Lottery be made squeaky clean to maintain public confidence.

And he is calling for the Lottery to be put in the hands of a non-profit making organisation when the franchise comes up for renewal.

Richard Branson has repeated his demand for National Lottery regulator Peter Davis to resign in the wake of the Virgin chief's libel victory.

A jury awarded Mr Branson £100,000 damages against Guy Snowden, chairman of GTech - one of five shareholders in National Lottery operator Camelot - after accepting Mr Branson's claim that Mr Snowden had offered him a bribe to pull out of the race to run the game.

Mr Branson said Camelot and the regulator were speaking "with one voice" and it was important Mr Davis should go.

But GTech had also been "found guilty", he said, and the company was still the key shareholder in Camelot.

Hugh Bayley demanded that Culture Secretary Chris Smith make sure none of the £100,000 damages be paid from lottery monies. "It would be quite wrong of Mr Snowden to award himself a lottery jackpot to pay his court costs," he said.

The MP has written to Chris Smith asking him to investigate just what was known about GTech at the time the company was accepted as a lottery partner. "It seems everyone in the media and showbusiness knew this company was being investigated by lottery authorities in other countries.

"It is essential that sleaze is driven out of the lottery immediately to maintain public confidence," said Mr Bayley. "People need to be reassured that lottery money will go to prizewinners and good causes and not be used for lawbreaking and bribery."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.