The much-criticised watchdog that scrutinises the jobs UK ministers can take after leaving office will be formally scrapped on Monday as part of a wider shake-up of the ethics structure in government. The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), described by critics as fundamentally toothless, has been closed, a Cabinet Office announcement said, with its functions taken over by two existing regulators. At the same time, a new organisation called the Ethics and Integrity Commission will oversee the work of a series of other regulators,
It is up to Angela Rayner whether she takes a 17,000 severance payment, despite Labour vowing to block such payments from October in a crackdown on sleaze, John Healey has said. Sir Keir Starmer moved to tighten the rules around severance pay, with ministers in future to have payments withheld if they are forced out over serious breaches of the ministerial code.