Repeatedly of late, we’ve seen cases where at the very least the perception exists that there are inadequate investigative and enforcement mechanisms around standards in public life and holding politicians to account.
What mechanisms do exist have in some cases been diminished. So for example, the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on the ministerial standards Sir Alex Allen resigns, after the PM chose to ignore his finding that the Home Sec in beach of the code- and he has not been replaced
As I’ve pointed out many times, it’s the Prime Minister’s job to adjudicate the code. He’s judge, jury and executioner (especially in the absence of an independent adviser on ministerial standards). Given it’s his government, the potential conflict of interest is clear.
NB The Cameron case is not purely a question of the ministerial code as it relates to activity after he left office (though obviously some of it is about access he granted while he was prime minister). But again, clear extra-Whitehall enforcement mechanisms aren’t there.
.@AnnelieseDodds: “This raises further serious questions about the special access Lex Greensill was granted to the heart of government.  
 
The public have a right to know what happened here - we need a full, transparent and thorough investigation."
Have been working on another story for later in the week today but my colleagues are examining the issue of standards in public life on Newsnight tonight. Make sure you’re watching- 2245.
NB to all those saying we’re not covering the Arcuri story I give you tonight’s Newsnight opening sequence
Vince Cable: “The “[lobbying] rules are weak. And we knew they were weak and they were deliberately diluted when the legislation went through Parliament when they were discussed in government. That is reprehensible.” #Newsnight
Prof Elizabeth David-Barrett, Director Centre for Study of Corruption @SussexUni: “We need to not look at it in terms of breaking rules but in terms of declining standards. Nolan Principles set v strong principles for those in public life- they’re not being upheld.” #Newsnight
Cable: “There’s a big gap following the resignation of Alex Allan...as a result of that PM isn’t submitting any returns as he’s supposed to do half yearly involving financial transactions for ministers...there isn’t this independent person at the centre demanding transparency.”
as I said earlier Allan’s resignation, leaves a big gap in the few internal scrutiny mechanisms which do exist. Remains extraordinary that there is no one in post- though it’s conceivable few are now interested in the job given the circumstances of Allan’s resignation.
What was I saying about internal mechanisms not working

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More from @lewis_goodall

27 Mar
Yesterday Alex Salmond insisted again and again his new party wasn’t about damaging his old one in any way, indeed his efforts would be of assistance.

And today...
As I said in my piece yesterday, danger for SNP is this all becomes about the ongoing conflict between Sturgeon and Salmond, an ongoing reminder to voters of all which has happened in recent months- and that Salmond forces Sturgeon into conversations she doesn’t want to have.
And though Salmond insists Alba can’t damage them because they’re only standing on the lists, it conveniently forgets the fact that a) what the SNP want most is a majority of their own, which they think Johnson cannot ignore.
Read 8 tweets
26 Mar
Scottish Electoral system explained

Going to be a lot of talk about whether Salmond's new party is going to work and who it might effect

Thought might be helpful to run through how Additional Member System (AMS) used in Holyrood (and Senedd in Wales) works. Here we go.
AMS (a proportional system used since the inception of the Scottish Parl in 1999) is made up of two components (and electors have two votes) the constituency vote and the regional (list) vote. Together they make up the 129 MSPs.

First the familiar bit, the constituency vote.
Scotland is divided into 73 constituencies. These are all elected (a la Westminster) by First Past the Post. The candidate which gets more votes than all the others (even if it's just one). The remaining votes count for nothing.
Read 9 tweets
26 Mar
NEW: Alex Salmond is re-entering frontline politics. He’s has announced that he’s starting a new pro-independence party, “Alba”- says the party will contest the May Holyrood elections.

A remarkable next stage in Salmond’s long goodbye from the SNP and his former colleagues.
Note the tag line on his backdrop “For the Independence Supermajority”

His sell isn’t that this will damage the SNP but instead will augment support for independence in the Scottish Parliament, rather than damaging the SNP.
Three things to say about that

1) this could be true in the sense that Scottish Parliament used AMS and you have two votes. But it’s always going to risky to game game and if Alba were to secure a decent proportion of the SNP vote on the list, it could still damage them.
Read 13 tweets
25 Mar
EXCL: I understand that the Variant and Mutant Taskforce (a joint body of PHE, JBC and Test&Trace) has written to Matt Hancock to inform him they've traced Covid variants being imported to the UK from countries not on the red list incl. France, Germany, USA and others in Europe.
The variant they're especially concerned about is the South African variant (B.1.351) and I'm told that PHE has instructed its regional teams to prioritise contact tracing of that variant over the others "until further notice".
This is of especial concern because internal estimates suggest that the SA variant might reduce vaccine efficacy to sub 50% (though data is shaky).

Officials are also worried because they calculate 24% of the SA cases they've traced don't have a foreign travel connection.
Read 14 tweets
25 Mar
NEW: big news in public transport/local govt. @AndyBurnhamGM announces that Greater Manchester will be taking the region’s bus network out of private operator control.Will be the first time it’s happened in England outside London since the bus networks were privatised in the 80s.
For those not familiar with this- most of England’s bus infrastructure (save London) is not intensively regulated. Routes, costs etc are set by the companies with limited control by public authorities. That’s been the case since privatisation in the 80s.
Read 5 tweets
24 Mar
NHS staff in Scotland (minus doctors) to be offered a 4% pay rise. Raises the issue again in London and pressure on Westminster ministers. Their equivalent proposal has been for 1%.
UK ministers say 1% is “what we can afford”. Obvious question flows- why does the Scottish government consider the matter differently?
Reminder too, this comes on top of the £500 bonus the Scottish and Welsh governments have offered NHS and social care staff in their countries. No such bonus has been offered in England.
Read 6 tweets

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