Labour Deputy Leader and Shadow First Secretary of State Angela
Rayner has called on the Prime Minister to appoint an independent
ethics watchdog, following the Deputy Prime Minister’s request
for an investigation into complaints against him.
The call came as the Labour Deputy Leader faced the Deputy Prime
Minister at Prime Minister's Questions today.
pledged to appoint an
independent ethics adviser as one of his first acts as Prime
Minister. Yet despite making more than a hundred ministerial
appointments since entering Number 10 three weeks ago, he has so
far failed to keep his promise.
The Prime Minister agreed to an investigation into formal
complaints about his deputy but has not said who will carry it
out, how or when, in the absence of an independent adviser.
A year on from the publication of the Committee on Standards in
Public’s Life’s Standards Matter 2, Labour is calling on to commit to implementing the
Committee’s recommendations in full as a first step to cleaning
up politics.
, Labour's Deputy Leader
and Shadow First Secretary of State, said:
"We're now left waiting for an inquiry the Prime Minister hasn't
instigated, by a watchdog he hasn't even appointed.
" pledged to appoint an
independent adviser as one of the first things he'd do as Prime
Minister but despite appointing more than a hundred ministers, he
has utterly failed to keep his promise.
"This Prime Minister promised to raise standards, but instead
he's done grubby deals to appoint a motley crew of ministers
facing misconduct allegations. Instead of bringing integrity to
the government, he's brought more of the same sleaze.
"The next Labour Government will establish an Independent
Integrity and Ethics Commission to clean up politics and restore
standards in public life. If was serious about turning the
page on years of Tory sleaze and scandal, he would back Labour
calls to immediately adopt the Committee on Standards in Public
Life's recommendations."
Ends
Notes to editors:
- Upholding Standards in Public Life, Final report of the
Standards Matter 2 review, Committee on Standards in Public Life,
November 2021 - link
