Douglas Carswell's Blog

The Triumph of Whitehall grandees?

According to Tim Montgomerie's excellent article on ConHome, of the papers Downing Street deals with 30 percent are generated by the Whitehall machine, 30 percent from the EU, and only 40 percent deal with the Coalition agenda.

In other words, 60 percent of the government agenda is determined by unelected, unaccountable officials.

We truly are a quangocracy - with Brussels at the apex - rather than a democracy - with the elected MPs in control.

Perhaps reining in the quango state will take a little more than a Public Bodies Bill?

Thus far the government's response seems to be about making the Whitehall machine answer inward to Downing Street, rather than outward to the people and Parliament.

Instead of answering to an eight man team at Number Ten, why not make Whitehall grandees and quango chiefs properly answerable before the 650 strong team elected to the Commons?

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