I’ve just read a fascinating column by Ms. Ella Whelan. It presented a really interesting argument a propos democracy and governance.
In “For Starmer, the unelected Blob must always rule over the plebs” (Telegraph), she says:
It’s been 177 days since the Labour Government was elected. And in that time, our new Prime Minister and his MPs have set up at least 25 quangos – almost one a week.
Take the Office for Budget Responsibility, initially set up as a panic response after the global financial crash to provide what was supposed to be independent and transparent analysis. The OBR’s pronouncements are now treated as gospel by many MPs, who quote it as though its staff should write economic policy, rather than politicians who are answerable to voters.
There’s the headliners like Great British Energy, Skills England and the Independent Football Regulator, the niche like the National Cladding Taskforce and School Support Staff Negotiating Body and the quangos to regulate the quangos, like the Regulatory Innovation Office. Pick an issue and it’s almost guaranteed that some Labour MP has come up with an unelected body to advise on it.
All of this makes Labour’s crocodile tears for democratic change in the House of Lords stick in the craw. The recent row over hereditary peers was our Government’s attempt at looking like it cared about the little people.
How dreadful that these earls, viscounts and barons get a say in the legislative process simply by dint of their bloodline. This cheap shot at unelected lords might be true, but it begs the question as to what right any other lord or baroness has to sit on the plush red seats deciding which laws the great unwashed are governed by.
The Labour crusade against the House of Lords is waged on the putative basis of “protecting” or affirming democracy.
And yet, the same party outsources enforcement of certain policies and decisions to these unelected quangos. They’re government-funded semi-public administrative bodies outside the civil service. The OBR (which was mentioned) is a classic case, but the same with the Climate Change Committee.
It seems to me that many, but not all, quangos are created to shift responsibility and blame elsewhere. It avoids or delays a difficult or embarrassing decision to someone else.
Why is “democracy” critical to the House of Lords — but not to the quangonistas?
Calling something a quango gives it an air of respectability and seriousness.
ReplyDeletePoliticians don't wants to take ownership of decisions anymore.
DeleteTwo interesting posts. The govt said it would be unpopular, and it is. They have to see it through.
ReplyDeleteAn unpopular government is sometimes necessary. One of the major problems here is communication & honesty. I think the reality of high taxes should have been communicated more honestly and taxpayers may would have been perhaps more prepared to pay more directly to the government. As it stands, the corp NI levy is an indirect way of hurting taxpayers as well as business future prospects.
DeleteAnother problem is the optics of cabinet members getting freebies while the country is being asked to make sacrifices. Gordon Brown, as PM, declined his ministerial pension. There ought to be a return to the notion that public service is giving to society - as opposed to grabbing as much as you can. I also think it is morally wrong for ministers to exploit their status by going on TV. At any rate, the Lord Ali scandal has shown that the Labour government have their one's snouts firmly in the ministerial trough.
Thanks for commenting Tasker.
I don't know what to say anymore Liam. The politics of this government are like a living hell for the country and any hope of economic growth from home or overseas investors has been killed.
ReplyDeleteMs. Whelan's point about the Labour Government's apparent contradiction in decrying the undemocratic nature of the House of Lords while simultaneously creating numerous quangos is particularly striking. It highlights a potential inconsistency in their approach to democracy. The creation of bodies like Great British Energy, Skills England, and the Independent Football Regulator, among others, suggests a tendency to outsource responsibility and decision-making to unelected entities.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Labour supporter but like many I'm far from satisfied with the government's actions so far. Indeed, I wonder why all these quangos are necessary and why Labour couldn't have researched all these issues while they were in opposition.
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