Ministers Urged to Take Power Back From Civil Service, Courts, Experts

Politicians of all political strips have been urged to take power back from the civil service and move away from technocracy. In a report published on Sunday by the Policy Exchange think tank, ministers are urged to resist pressure to put the civil service on a statutory footing, and to cut the size of senior civil service by up to 40 percent, boost pay for those who remain, and hire more special advisers. The 114-page report also calls for changes to the Civil Service Code to reduce judicial reviews and a reversal of reliance on experts and quangos. Authors argue that giving power away doesn’t allow ministers to avoid accountability for decisions, although they are now less able to influence those decisions than before....