, Labour’s Deputy Leader and Shadow Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster, responding to Michael Gove’s speech and
‘Declaration on Government Reform’, said:
“Moving a few civil servants out of London will not reverse
deep-rooted regional inequalities that have been exacerbated by a
decade of the Conservatives, nor will it make any difference to
the lives of people struggling to get by across the country.
“Promises to attract the best and the brightest must not become
cover for more cronyism and jobs for friends of Tory ministers,
and the Prime Minister overseeing the performance of senior civil
servants must not become cover for the politicisation of the
civil service or blaming officials for the failures of Ministers.
“If the Government was actually committed to learning from how
their deadly mistakes and failures during the Covid crisis then
the public inquiry would begin immediately, not kicked into the
long grass next year.
“Michael Gove should get his own house in order before he throws
stones and criticises the civil service the week after he as
Minister for the Cabinet Office was found to have acted
unlawfully in handing out a contract to his mates, misled a court
and misled Parliament.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
Angela Rayner has demanded investigations into breaching the Ministerial Code over the contract
unlawfully handed to Public First, and for misleading Parliament
regarding the Cabinet Office FOI ‘Clearing House’
