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Ethics Commission launched and ministerial exit pay tightened in standards drive

Ethics Commission launched and ministerial exit pay tightened in standards drive

Yahoo5 days ago
Eligibility for the payouts given to ministers once they leave office will be tightened to prevent those who serve for only a matter of months from receiving them, the Government has announced.
The move is part of an overhaul aimed at restoring trust in standards in public life, which will see the launch of a new Ethics and Integrity Commission.
The commission, created from the Committee on Standards in Public Life, will have a wider, stronger remit to oversee integrity across every part of the public sector.
Ministers will also scrap the Advisory Committee for Business Appointments (Acoba) as part of the shake-up.
Critics have said the watchdog – which assesses the jobs ex-ministers take after leaving government for conflicts of interest – is toothless and unable to enforce its rules properly.
Pat McFadden, the senior Cabinet Office minister overseeing the reforms, said: 'This overhaul will mean there are stronger rules, fewer quangos and clearer lines of accountability.
'The Committee on Standards in Public Life has played an important role in the past three decades. These changes give it a new mandate for the future.'
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster added: 'But whatever the institutional landscape, the public will in the end judge politicians and Government by how they do their jobs and how they fulfil the principles of public service.'
Ministers are currently entitled to a severance payment equivalent to three months' salary when they leave office for any reason, and no matter how long they have been in the job.
Under the changes being announced by the Government, ministers who leave office after a serious breach of the ministerial code or who have served less than six months will not get the payment.
If they return to office within three months of leaving, they will also not receive their salary until the end of that three-month period.
The reforms are aimed at preventing situations like that under the Boris Johnson and Liz Truss governments, which saw some Conservative ministers who served for little more than a month receive payouts of thousands of pounds.
Labour has said some £253,720 was paid out to 35 outgoing Tory ministers who were in post for less than six months during 2022, some of whom were in their jobs for 37 days.
The new Ethics and Integrity Commission would be required to report annually to the prime minister on the health of the standards system.
It would be chaired by Doug Chalmers, a retired lieutenant general who chairs the current Standards Committee.
The committee was set up in 1994 by then-prime minister Sir John Major, after his government was mired in accusations of 'sleaze' following a series of parliamentary scandals.
Sir John warned in a recent speech that a small group of politicians were increasingly breaking the rules, and suggested Acoba needed to be reformed.
Ministers have instead decided to scrap it and split its functions between the Civil Service Commission and the Prime Minister's Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards.
Under reforms to the business appointments rules, ex-ministers found to have breached them by taking on inappropriate jobs will now be asked to repay any severance pay they receive.
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Trump plays golf in Scotland while protesters take to the streets and decry his visit
Trump plays golf in Scotland while protesters take to the streets and decry his visit

Yahoo

time32 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Trump plays golf in Scotland while protesters take to the streets and decry his visit

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — President Donald Trump played golf Saturday at his course on Scotland's coast while protesters around the country took to the streets to decry his visit and accuse United Kingdom leaders of pandering to the American. Trump and his son Eric played with the U.S. ambassador to Britain, Warren Stephens, near Turnberry, a historic course that the Trump family's company took over in 2008. Hundreds of protesters gathered on the cobblestone and tree-lined street in front of the U.S. Consulate about 100 miles (160 kilometers) away in Edinburgh, Scotland's capital. Speakers on a makeshift stage told the crowd that Trump was not welcome and they criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for striking a recent trade deal to avoid stiff U.S. tariffs on goods imported from the U.K. Protests were planned in other cities as environmental activists, opponents of Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza and pro-Ukraine groups loosely formed a 'Stop Trump Coalition." 'I think there are far too many countries that are feeling the pressure of Trump and that they feel that they have to accept him and we should not accept him here,' said June Osbourne, 52, a photographer and photo historian from Edinburgh who protested wearing a red cloak and white hood, recalling "The Handmaid's Tale." Osbourne held up picture of Trump with 'Resist' stamped over his face. The dual-U.S.-British citizen said the Republican president was "the worst thing that has happened to the world, the U.S., in decades.' Saturday's protests were not nearly as large as the throngs that came out across Scotland when Trump played at the resort during his first term in 2018. But bagpipes played, people chanted 'Trump Out!' and raised homemade signs that said 'No red carpet for dictators," 'We don't want you here' and 'Stop Trump. Migrants welcome.' One dog had a sign that said 'No treats for tyrants.' Some on the far right took to social media to call for gatherings supporting Trump in places such as Glasgow. Upon arriving in Scotland on Friday night, Trump admonished European leaders for not cracking down on immigration. 'This immigration is killing Europe," he said. 'You better get your act together,' Trump said. 'You're not going to have Europe anymore.' While in Scotland, Trump is set to talk trade with Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president. But golf is a major focus. The Trumps will also visit another Trump course, in the Aberdeen area in northeastern Scotland. They plan to cut a ribbon on Tuesday, opening the second Trump course. The president has long lobbied for Turnberry to host the British Open, which it has not done since he took over ownership. 'There's no place like it,' he said Friday night. ___ This story has been corrected to reflect that the citizenship status for June Osbourne is U.S.-British, not U.S.-Scottish. Solve the daily Crossword

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