In July 2025 the government announced that its long-trailed Ethics and Integrity Commission would be formed on the foundations of the existing Committee on Standards in Public Life, with the new organisation starting work under its new title in October.
Spotlight’s contribution to the birth of this new watchdog began back in January 2021 when the establishment of an “independent ethics commission” formed one of the recommendations we submitted to CSPL’s Standards Matter 2 inquiry (which CSPL declined to take forward, rather ironically in retrospect). We provided advice on what an ethics and integrity commission might look like, including international comparisons with Canada and Australia, and tracked the (lack of) implementation of CSPL’s recommendations in our Integrity Deferred report and a follow-up article.
So it was a significant win for us when Labour announced in its manifesto that it was going to establish a new Commission.
Sadly, the Ethics and Integrity Commission set up in 2025 doesn’t have as robust powers as we had hoped, and we have ongoing concerns about how independent it can truly be without being put on a firmer legal basis and being given the resources necessary to do its work. We will continue pushing for it to be a mightier body.
