Political

Ed Davey calls for ministerial code to be properly enforceable

The Guardian reports:

The Liberal Democrats have called for the ministerial code to be made legally enforceable by stripping Downing Street of the power to override decisions about breaches and preventing Johnson from acting like an “elected dictator”.

Following the prime minister’s quashing of the finding that the home secretary, Priti Patel, breached the code by bullying staff, as well as his refusal to take action against Dominic Cummings and Hancock for breaching Covid rules, the Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, said the situation was “untenable”.

He will push for a change in the law so that punishments can be handed out directly by the ministerial adviser on standards, Christopher Geidt.

Davey said Johnson should still ultimately be able to choose his ministers and special advisers, but if he decided to go against the recommendation of Lord Geidt, the individual concerned should forfeit their taxpayer-funded salary.

“If we don’t do something like this, then the ministerial code is a joke,” Davey said, accusing Johnson of having “brought the whole system into disrepute”.

Sign up to get the latest news and analysis

"*" indicates required fields

Email*
Name*
What would you like to receive?*
If you submit this form, your data will be used in line with the privacy policy here to update you on the topic(s) selected. This may including using this data to contact you via a variety of digital channels.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

One response to “Ed Davey calls for ministerial code to be properly enforceable”

  1. If I am correct Lord G was appointed by Johnson in which case he would have to go and be replaced by ALL MPs. Yes the Ministerial Code should be properly enforceable.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All comments and data you submit with them will be handled in line with the privacy and moderation policies.