Labour launches a new clampdown on ministers seeking severance pay from the taxpayer today, vowing to bar those sacked or forced to quit from claiming a ‘golden goodbye’.
Politicians will also have to spend at least six months in post to be eligible under reforms unveiled today.
Labour cited handouts given to ministers who served for a matter of weeks under Liz Truss.
But it was revealed today that one of Keir Starmer‘s minister was also handed cash this year after spending little more than six months in post.
Tulip Siddiq stepped down as exchequer secretary to the Treasury in January after she became embroiled in a corruption probe in Bangladesh – in which she denies any wrongdoing.
The Hampstead and Highgate MP was paid £5,593 in severance, the going rate for a junior minister, according to the Treasury’s annual report.
The Cabinet Office today launched an overhaul aimed at restoring trust in standards in public life, which will see the launch of a new Ethics and Integrity Commission.
The commission, created from the Committee on Standards in Public Life, will have a wider, stronger remit to oversee integrity across every part of the public sector.
Pat McFadden, the senior Cabinet Office minister, has launched an overhaul aimed at restoring trust in standards in public life, which will see the launch of a new Ethics and Integrity Commission.
But it was revealed today that one of Keir Starmer’s minister was also handed cash this year after spending little more than six months in post. Tulip Siddiq stepped down as exchequer secretary to the Treasury in January.
Ministers will also scrap the Advisory Committee for Business Appointments (Acoba), which has long been criticised as toothless.
However questions remain over how well the ‘revolving door’ between government and the private sector will be closed by the changes.
Under reforms to the business appointments rules, ex-ministers found to have breached them by taking on inappropriate jobs will now be asked to repay any severance pay they receive.
The payment ranges between £5,594 for a junior minister to £16,876 for a Cabinet minister, which may pale into insignificance compared with the often six-figure salary they may be offered.
Pat McFadden, the senior Cabinet Office minister overseeing the reforms, said: ‘This overhaul will mean there are stronger rules, fewer quangos and clearer lines of accountability.
‘The Committee on Standards in Public Life has played an important role in the past three decades. These changes give it a new mandate for the future.’
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster added: ‘But 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.’
Ministers are currently entitled to a severance payment equivalent to three months’ salary when they leave office for any reason, and no matter how long they have been in the job.
Ministers will also scrap the Advisory Committee for Business Appointments (Acoba), which has long been criticised as toothless. Pictured is Acoba’s former chairman Lord Pickles.
Ms Siddiq resigned from her post in the Treasury earlier this year following an investigation by the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser into her links to her aunt’s regime in Dhaka, which was overthrown last year.
Although Sir Laurie Magnus concluded that she had not breached the Ministerial Code, he advised Sir Keir Starmer to reconsider Ms Siddiq’s responsibilities.
But Ms Siddiq chose to resign, saying she had become ‘a distraction’ from the Government’s agenda.
She has said allegations by Bangladeshi authorities against her are a ‘politically motivated smear campaign’ and insisted there is ‘no evidence that I’ve done anything wrong’.
Under the changes being announced by the Government, ministers who leave office after a serious breach of the ministerial code or who have served less than six months will not get the payment.
It will be up to the PM and his senior ethics advisor to decide if a breach of the code warrants a resignation.
If they return to office within three months of leaving, they will also not receive their salary until the end of that three-month period.
The reforms are aimed at preventing situations like that under the Truss governments, which saw some Conservative ministers who served for little more than a month receive payouts of thousands of pounds.
Labour has said some £253,720 was paid out to 35 outgoing Tory ministers who were in post for less than six months during 2022, some of whom were in their jobs for 37 days.
The new Ethics and Integrity Commission would be required to report annually to the prime minister on the health of the standards system.
It would be chaired by Doug Chalmers, a retired lieutenant general who chairs the current Standards Committee.
The committee was set up in 1994 by then-prime minister Sir John Major, after his government was mired in accusations of ‘sleaze’ following a series of parliamentary scandals.
Sir John warned in a recent speech that a small group of politicians were increasingly breaking the rules, and suggested Acoba needed to be reformed.
Ministers have instead decided to scrap it and split its functions between the Civil Service Commission and the Prime Minister’s Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards.
Under reforms to the business appointments rules, ex-ministers found to have breached them by taking on inappropriate jobs will now be asked to repay any severance pay they receive.
