Blunkett and the Civil Service

Splendid. Ex-home Secretary David Blunkett has taken a pop at the Civil Service.

In this he is catching up with the Green Party, which wants Government Officials to bear responsibility for their actions where they are in error, and not to be allowed to hide behind the Minister. As things stand, it is possible for civil servants to escape responsibility for their actions, and if the department fouls up, they are rewarded with the resignation of the present, seasoned Minister, and the advent of a callow new Minister, whom they can bend to their will. A clear example of Moral Hazard.

The political neutrality of the Civil Service is a well-established modern myth. They wield enormous political power, and it is a naive politician or journalist who supposes otherwise.

There is a persistent worry that there is a coterie of pro-nuclear civil servants who are holding back the development of renewable energy in the UK.