Keir Starmer ‘hypocrisy’ exposed as he orders ministers to stop passing the buck

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of “hypocrisy” after ordering ministers to stop outsourcing decisions to regulators and other bodies – despite creating 25 quangos since the election. The Prime Minister made the demand ahead of his planned “intervention” on Thursday, at which he is expected to further outline plans for a “rewiring of the British state”.

Despite his call for “a strong, agile and active state”, Sir Keir was told actions speak louder than words amid accusations Labour is smothering Britain in red tape. The questioned Sir Keir’s commitment to achieving economic growth and accused him of hypocrisy as they pointed to how he set up a new quango every week in his first six months in power. Analysis shows Labour created 25 new quangos and so-called task forces and advisory councils before the end of 2024.

This was equal to an average of one a week since the party’s General Election victory in early July last year.

The newly created bodies include Great British Energy, billed as a state-owned energy company, and Border Security Command, to tackle the Channel migrant crisis.

Labour is also vowing to establish a new independent football regulator and a Passenger Standards Authority to monitor Britain’s railways.

The Prime Minister used his weekly Cabinet meeting to tell ministers he wanted to reverse a “trend” under the previous Tory government of decisions being made by other bodies.

Downing Street said the PM warned that Labour “must go further and faster to reform the state, to deliver a strong, agile and active state that delivers for working people”.

“This included Cabinet assessing processes and regulations that play no part in delivering the Plan for Change,” Sir Keir’s official spokesman said.

“And the Government taking responsibility for decisions rather than outsourcing them to regulators and bodies, as had become the trend under the previous government.

“The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster added that this Government believes in the power of the state to deliver security and stability.

“But that the previous government took an outdated approach to forever hiring more people and spending more money.

“He outlined the changes he was making to the Civil Service and performance management to incentivise delivery, and the need for more digital and tech-enabled staff, akin to what any big organisation would have in place.”

Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith has questioned Sir Keir’s commitment to ripping up red tape.

He said: “Words are cheap but when it comes to actions, this Government have launched a new quango or regulator nearly every week in office.

“Just this week they are spawning a new ‘Fair Work’ quango as part of an Employment Bill of more than 200 pages of red tape with another 263 pages of amendments that will suffocate growth and cost people their jobs.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves suggested towards the end of last year that post-financial crisis regulation had gone “too far” and urged regulators to focus more on economic growth.