Jun 25, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min · 13 segments
Improving standards in public life was a key plank of Labour’s promise to be different from its predecessors in government. In opposition, the party promised better behaviour and stronger systems of…
Ruth AndersonGuest
Doug ChalmersGuest
Mark PackGuest
Sue HawleyGuest
Lisa JamesHost
Um, I hope everywhere is somewhere cool, or at least as cool as we can be given the extreme heat of the, today and the last couple of days.
Um, I'm delighted to be here to take part in this important discussion on standards in public life.
In March, I was appointed by the Prime Minister to support the package of work on standards and constitutional reform as a dedicated minister in the Cabinet Office.
The government has made real and significant improvements to the standards landscape, implementing many of our manifesto commitments, with plans for us to go further still.
Some of these reforms, such as the recent announcement to update the Cabinet manual, are not particularly dramatic, but are important.
The manual acts as an important guide for ministers and officials on our laws, rules, and conventions, but it was last updated 15 years ago with a foreword from David Cameron, a world where we were still in the EU, we had a coalition government and a fixed term Parliament act.
Um, therefore, alongside the w- um, the workings of government and making the workings of government more transparent to Parliament and the public, this update would ensure ministers and officials have an accurate and authoritative guide for navigating our complex constitutional arrangements.
Our revisions to the ministerial code have aimed to put ethics at the heart of our ministerial life and strengthen transparency through the Register of Ministers' Gifts and Hospitality.
We've granted the independent advisor the powers to launch investigations without the Prime Minister's permission and introduce new financial sanctions for serious breaches of the code.
These measures are progress, but we recognize that reform must extend beyond ministers to the systems within which they operate.
That is why we've overhauled the government ethics bodies, including by replacing the Committee on Standards in Public Life with a more broad and more ambitious ethics and integrity commission, excellently chaired by Doug.
Already the EIC, with a goal to promote the seven principles of public life and, um, public life and guide effective codes of conduct, is leading a comprehensive review as to whether financial and lobbying transparency rules need to go further still.
In Parliament, the seat of UK democracy, the government is also pursuing important change.
No one on this call will not be aware that there is currently no modern precedent for removing peerages from disgraced peers, with the last such case happening over 100 years ago.
We are changing that and introducing a mechanism to remove peerages from disgraced members, and in the other house, we have committed to banning second jobs for MPs, with limited exceptions only for professional qualifications.
This will ensure an MP's focus remains on their constituents and on the roles as representatives in Parliament.
While these are important, many of you will rightly point out that to ensure the highest standards in public life, we cannot only focus on the role of elected officials.
The extension of a legal duty of candor to public bodies, as long campaigned for by the Hillsborough families, will ensure penalties to any public official who seeks to mislead the public during investigations.
Now, I believe, as I hope you do, that these reforms have the potential to make a lasting difference, and in fact are already making a difference.
All of us are aware of the increasing reality that w- we are operating in a wider global context of declining trust.
Um, I hope everywhere is somewhere cool, or at least as cool as we can be given the extreme heat of the, today and the last couple of days.
Um, I'm delighted to be here to take part in this important discussion on standards in public life.
In March, I was appointed by the Prime Minister to support the package of work on standards and constitutional reform as a dedicated minister in the Cabinet Office.
The government has made real and significant improvements to the standards landscape, implementing many of our manifesto commitments, with plans for us to go further still.
Some of these reforms, such as the recent announcement to update the Cabinet manual, are not particularly dramatic, but are important.
The manual acts as an important guide for ministers and officials on our laws, rules, and conventions, but it was last updated 15 years ago with a foreword from David Cameron, a world where we were still in the EU, we had a coalition government and a fixed term Parliament act.
Um, therefore, alongside the w- um, the workings of government and making the workings of government more transparent to Parliament and the public, this update would ensure ministers and officials have an accurate and authoritative guide for navigating our complex constitutional arrangements.
Our revisions to the ministerial code have aimed to put ethics at the heart of our ministerial life and strengthen transparency through the Register of Ministers' Gifts and Hospitality.
We've granted the independent advisor the powers to launch investigations without the Prime Minister's permission and introduce new financial sanctions for serious breaches of the code.
These measures are progress, but we recognize that reform must extend beyond ministers to the systems within which they operate.
That is why we've overhauled the government ethics bodies, including by replacing the Committee on Standards in Public Life with a more broad and more ambitious ethics and integrity commission, excellently chaired by Doug.
Already the EIC, with a goal to promote the seven principles of public life and, um, public life and guide effective codes of conduct, is leading a comprehensive review as to whether financial and lobbying transparency rules need to go further still.
In Parliament, the seat of UK democracy, the government is also pursuing important change.
No one on this call will not be aware that there is currently no modern precedent for removing peerages from disgraced peers, with the last such case happening over 100 years ago.
We are changing that and introducing a mechanism to remove peerages from disgraced members, and in the other house, we have committed to banning second jobs for MPs, with limited exceptions only for professional qualifications.
This will ensure an MP's focus remains on their constituents and on the roles as representatives in Parliament.
While these are important, many of you will rightly point out that to ensure the highest standards in public life, we cannot only focus on the role of elected officials.
The extension of a legal duty of candor to public bodies, as long campaigned for by the Hillsborough families, will ensure penalties to any public official who seeks to mislead the public during investigations.
Now, I believe, as I hope you do, that these reforms have the potential to make a lasting difference, and in fact are already making a difference.
All of us are aware of the increasing reality that w- we are operating in a wider global context of declining trust.
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