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the behaviour of elected officials, both during their time in office and afterwards, that relies far too heavily on an outdated “good chaps” theory of regulation.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.
Nine months ago the government promised it was introducing “a wide-ranging programme of reform to strengthen ethics and integrity in central government.” In particular, it promised “fundamental reforms” to the...
Threats to the UK’s democracy in the context of election finance, including foreign money, dirty money and the risk of undue influence by high-level donors.
Spotlight on Corruption and Transparency International UK have produced a joint briefing ahead of a debate in the House of Lords on 11 January 2024 on parliamentary democracy and standards in public life....
After reforms to lobbying rules are eventually implemented, there will still be no requirement to disclose non-diarised informal lobbying in departments’ transparency releases, even if it impacts upon or shapes...
Spotlight reiterates the recommendations in its previous written evidence that have not yet been implemented by the government. In addition, and in light of the government’s response to the reports by CSPL, PACAC and Boardman, Spotlight recommends that the government:
With just hours to go before Parliament went on recess, the government last week snuck out its long awaited (and very overdue) response to three separate independent reports on strengthening...
Today’s publication of Lord Pickles’ letter regarding Boris Johnson’s role as a columnist for the Daily Mail shows that the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) system is broken. As...
The latest version of the list of ministers’ interests reveals a total of 10 ministers, including the Prime Minister, have in place (or are in the process of setting up)...
