Labour to target rule-breaking ministers with financial sanctions
Rule-breaking ministers will be targeted with sanctions and a new watchdog will be set up to improve standards in public life under new reforms introduced by the Labour government.
As part of efforts to improve behaviour across politics, Keir Starmer has replaced an independent watchdog for former ministers – the Advisory Committee for Business Appointments (Acoba)– with the Ethics and Integrity Commission, which will look to uphold standards for policymakers, backbenchers and other public officials.
The new body will be able to sanction ministers who breach the Ministerial Code, which sets out independent standards for top policymakers.
Ministers are currently entitled to a severance payment equal to three months’ salary when they leave for any reasons, regardless of their time in the job.
Under new rules, ministers who have either left after a “serious breach” of the code or serve fewer than six months will not receive payments.
Labour’s quango crackdown
The commission will also supervise various ethics bodies at public organisations by coordinating rules, sharing information on best practice and acting as a “one-stop shop” for individuals looking for information for codes of conduct in public life.
Labour minister Pat McFadden, who serves as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said the overhaul of public life standards will lead to “fewer quangos and clearer lines of accountability”.
“Whatever the institutional landscape, the public will in the end judge politicians and government by how they do their jobs and how they fulfil the principles of public service.”
Government bodies and other ethics bodies will look at how rules on conflicts of interests could be strengthened.
Successive governments have come under scrutiny for dodging accountability and sleaze while public officials have been criticised for failing to adhere to rules overseen by Acoba.
Boris Johnson was reprimanded by Acoba for post-ministerial jobs, including his relationship with a hedge fund amid a visit with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
The Institute for Government, a government affairs think tank, also criticised “unsatisfactory” and “snail-like” procedures when former civil servant Sue Gray’s move to the Labour Party when it was in opposition.
Starmer also failed to consult Acoba when he took up a role at a top law firm Mishcon de Reya after leaving the Crown Prosecution Service in 2013.