Surveys of public opinion – including our own – continue to show that trust in the UK’s elected officials is abysmally low. The blame for much of this can be laid at the door of the behaviour of senior political figures in the last decade. But those actions have been enabled by a lax system of regulating the behaviour of elected officials, both during their time in office and afterwards, that relies far too heavily on an outdated “good chaps” theory of regulation.
Spotlight advocates for improvements in the way standards in public life are regulated and monitors the government’s efforts in this area. As part of this work, we recommend putting the standards regulators on a statutory footing and giving them the resources and independence to do their jobs properly. We also advocate for improved lobbying transparency and more effective procedures for tackling conflicts of interest in government.
The government is pushing ahead with AI Growth Zones without national-level public consultation, while businesses dominate access to ministers and senior officials and communities and environmental groups are shut out....
The first Ethics and Integrity Commission’s (EIC) annual letter to the Prime Minister is out and it provides a really welcome annual health check up on the UK’s standards framework. The letter warns that ‘progress is at risk of stalling’ without personal leadership from the PM to accelerate standards reform.
The evidence we submitted warned that the UK’s constitutional democracy is at risk from the erosion of safeguards against executive overreach, corruption and abuse of power.
The government has proposed an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, that would totally ban cryptocurrency political donations. But does the text of the amendment actually go far enough to truly stop cryptocurrency funding leaking into our political finance system?
UK Anti-Corruption Coalition says the billions wasted, the VIP Lane, and the near-total lack of accountability must trigger urgent reform before the next crisis
The Ethics and Integrity Commission has published a landmark review, calling for sweeping reforms to lobbying and transparency rules. With trust in politicians at record lows, the government should crack on with implementing these recommendations, demonstrating its commitment to tackling undue influence and unfair access.
The Government’s response to the Covid Counter-Fraud Commissioner is out. Largely, the Government has accepted the Commissioner’s recommendations for tackling fraud. Disappointingly though, the Government rejected four of Tom Hayhoe’s 22 recommendations, which are critical to protecting public funds from fraud and corruption.
The submission calls for a robust ban on cryptocurrency donations which covers contributions to individual politicians as well as political parties and the emerging risks linked to politically affiliated memecoins.
