What are the checks and balances governing UK ministers? | Alice Lilly

Yes, Matt Hancock resigned, but standards in government have to be upheld by more than just public opinion

As the fallout from the Matt Hancock affair continues, questions have been raised about the UK’s system of checks and balances on ministerial behaviour. There is a range of bodies inside and outside government that can scrutinise the actions of ministers – but all too often they can be circumvented by a prime minister with a comfortable majority.

While Hancock may have resigned because of his failure to abide by the Covid rules he put into law, his affair with Gina Coladangelo raised wider questions about the inadequacies of other rules. Coladangelo was not simply an aide – she was a non-executive director in his department. Neds, in Whitehall jargon, are people brought in from outside government to sit on the boards of government departments, scrutinising how they are run. Neds are supposed to declare any conflicts of interest, but as nothing has been published, there is no record of whether her longstanding friendship with Hancock was considered a conflict (or the potential conflict of interest posed by her brother’s job at a company that has won an NHS contract).

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3h38vJt