Labour vows to ‘turn page on Tory sleaze’ as it details ethics watchdog plans

Deputy leader Angela Rayner is expected to renew a commitment to ‘stop the rot’ by creating a new body with stronger powers.

Deputy Labour Party leader Angela Rayner talks to the media in on College Green, Westminster, central London, as the House of Commons Committee of Privileges report into whether former prime minister Boris Johnson misled Parliament over partygate has been published. Boris Johnson committed “repeated contempts” of Parliament with his partygate denials that merited a 90-day suspension, the cross-party investigation has found. Picture date: Thursday June 15, 2023. (PA Wire)

Labour will pledge to “turn the page on Tory sleaze” if it wins the next election, as it fleshes out its plans for an independent ethics watchdog for ministerial standards.

Deputy leader Angela Rayner is expected to renew a commitment to “stop the rot” by creating a new body with stronger powers to push for sanctions against those who break the rules.

In a speech to the Institute for Government, Ms Rayner will say that the theory of “good chaps” in Westminster has been tested to the point of destruction by recent Tory scandals.

She will vow to show people that “politics is working for them” by the end of Labour’s first term in government.

We will clean up politics, so that by the end of our first term people don’t just feel better off, they can see that politics is working for them, not for Westminster

Angela Rayner

The proposals for a new watchdog, which were first announced by the party in 2021, include a pledge to scrap Whitehall’s existing revolving-doors watchdog and introduce a more robust system.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), which was responsible for reviewing Sir Keir Starmer’s job offer to ex-civil servant Sue Gray, would be replaced by an Ethics and Integrity Commission, the party said.

Setting out the plans in further detail on Thursday, Ms Rayner will outline how the commission would be placed on a statutory footing to strengthen its scope to impose tougher sanctions for standards breaches.

Labour would carry out a consultation, including the Committee on Standards in Public Life and existing public standards regulators, on next steps for the watchdog’s creation, the party said.

The committee would continue to play a significant role at the centre of the standards landscape, with the two bodies proposed to complement each other’s work, Labour said.

Ms Rayner will pledge: “We will clean up politics, so that by the end of our first term people don’t just feel better off, they can see that politics is working for them, not for Westminster.

“Our democracy cannot hinge on gentlemen’s agreements – it needs independent and robust protection.

“Politics has to work for people, not for politicians. We are here to serve the public, not ourselves.”

The deputy leader will say Acoba and the independent adviser on minister’s interests – which Labour is also planning to subsume within the proposed commission – have been “undermined and weakened” by the Conservatives.

Acoba recently reviewed whether party leader Sir Keir’s appointment of former mandarin Ms Gray as his soon-to-be chief-of-staff risked undermining appointment rules, but ultimately found “no evidence” her impartiality in Whitehall had been impaired.

It is often criticised as “toothless” because it cannot enforce its recommendations, but Sir Keir had committed to abiding by its advice in the event it had reached different conclusions.

The commission would have the power to launch investigations into ministers, determine breaches and demand financial sanctions on former ministers who break the rules to close the “revolving door” between public office and lucrative roles for firms they used to regulate.

Former ministers would be banned from lobbying, consultancy or any paid work relating to their old roles for at least five years under the plans if Labour seizes No 10.

It comes after a series of standards rows that have rocked Rishi Sunak’s Government in recent months, with ministers Gavin Williamson, Nadhim Zahawi and Dominic Raab all exiting Cabinet over accusations their conduct fell short.

And Conservative former minister Owen Paterson resigned from the Commons in 2021 following a scandal over his lobbying for two companies that employed him as a consultant.

Mr Sunak had promised to lead with “integrity, professionalism and accountability”, and after entering office appointed Sir Laurie Magnus as his independent adviser, who oversaw the investigation that led to Mr Zahawi’s departure.

But Ms Rayner will say the replacement of the adviser would “put an end to the current situation in which the Prime Minister is the judge and jury on every case of ministerial misconduct”.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Labour want to outsource ethics to a body of unelected bureaucrats chosen by Keir Starmer, instead of trusting Parliament to hold ministers to account.

“It’s unsurprising to see that Angela Rayner doesn’t trust the leader of her own party to oversee ethics in Whitehall.”