The Cabinet Manual: Why Britain's constitutional "highway code" needs updating

About this episode

The episode discusses the need for updates to the Cabinet Manual and the implications of recent government transparency efforts.

The Cabinet Manual has been described as the “highway code” of the UK constitution, a guide that brings together the laws, conventions, precedents and procedures under which the Government operates. First published in 2011, it has not been updated since, despite a decade and a half of constitutional change. So why is the Government revising it now? What needs updating? Should Parliament have a role in approving it? And how important is the Manual as a guide to the UK’s unwritten constitution?   The Government has described its response to the Mandelson Humble Address as an “unprecedented piece of Government transparency”. But after publishing more than 1,500 pages of documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as Ambassador to the United States, what have MPs and the public actually learned? Has the disclosure shed any light on the key questions that prompted Parliament to demand the papers in the first place? And, with the exercise costing at least £1 million, what lessons should be learned about how Humble Addresses are handled in future?   The House of Commons Administration has been tasked with delivering significant savings through its new Savings and…

Topics covered

• Cabinet Manual
• UK constitution
• Government transparency
• Humble Address
• Parliament outreach
• digital engagement

Keywords

• Cabinet Manual
• UK constitution
• government transparency
• Humble Address
• Parliament
• digital engagement
• cost-cutting

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: UK, House of Commons Administration, Government, Parliament

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