The Guardian view on restoring confidence in politics: The work should not be soft to fix standards Editorial

JOh, Ohn Major did not overcome the bush. in letter This week to a government conference institute determines the thirtieth anniversary of Nolan report Based on the criteria in public life, the former Prime Minister went directly to the heart of the matter. He said: “For many contracts, Britain has a global reputation for being free of corruption and bad practice. This is less healthy today. Our national interest is to restore this reputation.”

This is true without controversy. But it is not just a global reputation that concerns. It is also, at least, largely, local. Confidence in British public life has decreased, decreased and needs to be rebuilt. Confidence in politics and government to change life drains. As Sir John said, the direction should be reversed before the damage was “outside the rescue.” This point has already been reached.

This is an issue that goes beyond political parties. So there is no permanent virtue to indicate this Nolan Committee Sir John had to be created specifically due to the conservative abdomen scandals in the 1990s, and David Milor and Jonathan Aitkin contract. Or noting that most of the reputation damages that were highlighted in his speech were committed in the years of the newer Conservative Party, under the presidency of Boris Johnson in particular.

All this is true. But work governments were not without their own sins – some of them serious – whether in the past or recently. Do not prefer public life at all to turn this into a party issue. Both the two main parties (and the smaller parties as well) like to pretend that they are alone and that all the blame falls with others. But this is not true.

There is a real danger that the Starmer government and the Labor Party allow this self -anger. Because, as they say to themselves, they are good people trying to do good things, the system is safe and confidence will be restored. This is not true either. It is the risk system, which must be rebuilt and protected. The clock is knocking.

The seven principles of Nolan Report offers public life – self -denial, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership – a rock to rebuild it. However, the Sir John speech confirms, the ethical supervision network, advice and enforcement on a large scale in Parliament and the government is complex, fragmented, uneven and sometimes effective.

the job 2024 Statements He promised some reforms, including the establishment of the Independent Ethics and Integrity Committee throughout the government. However, the statement remained unclear in the main points. This included whether the implementation operations will be legal, and whether the committee will replace or vaccinate the current machinery network.

A year after the work of the Labor Party in the elections, the plan is still clear. The government appears to be disrupted by the committee and is studying a more “principled” principle -based approach. Sir John believes “tightening” Nolan is the key. But both rivers risk re -invented a slightly better version of the “Good Chapter” system for the organization that has collapsed badly during the reign of Mr. Johnson. This is simply not good enough. Just adjust the risks of the system, which leaves it a scandal away from a new outbreak of the general contempt for policy that can only help Nigel Varage.

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