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Brown builds own super-ministry |
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Government
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Written by Peter Warren
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Tuesday, 02 May 2006 |
Evening Standard 12/09/03
GORDON Brown is forming a 'Government within a Government' that
effectively gives the Chancellor overall control of most of Britain's
domestic policy.
Research by the London Evening Standard shows a sizeable expansion of
staff numbers at the Treasury as Brown builds a super-ministry
extending its tentacles into virtually every part of Government.
Since the Chancellor took over following Labour's 1997 General Election
victory, staff numbers have climbed from 888 to 990, a rise necessary
for Brown's plans to create 'shadow units' to mirror most Government
departments.
The Evening Standard has identified more than 26 individuals within the
Treasury whose role is to shadow the activities of Government
departments and provide the Chancellor with information.
According to Liberal Democrats, the Chancellor is empire building in
competition with the Prime Minister, meaning both Tony Blair and Brown
have intelligence-gathering systems.
Matthew Taylor, the Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, said: 'We have seen a
big increase in staff. The Treasury is double-guessing every department
and the same thing is happening in Downing Street at enormous cost.
This is appallingly wasteful.
'If you talk to any Government minister, you will find that they are increasingly being made answerable to the Treasury.'
Brown is the only Government minister allowed to retain as many special
advisers as Tony Blair, with the Chancellor's quota being 10 compared
with the two granted to other Cabinet ministers.
British businesses are complaining that they are giving up valuable
time to brief officials from both the Blair and Brown camps, as well as
the more usual requests for information from the Department of Trade
and Industry.
Sources say Brown has assumed overall control of the DTI's activities
on the development of technologies. A senior executive with one of
Britain's leading technology companies said: 'It is quite amazing how
many visits we are getting from Treasury officials with requests for
information that we have given already to the DTI.'
A Treasury spokesman said the DTI takes the lead on a day-to-day basis
but Brown chairs the ministerial committee on economic affairs,
productivity and competitiveness, 'where enterprise issues will be
discussed in a broader context'.
He admitted the department now shadows every ministry but claimed it was not a radical development.
Treasury footprint is everywhere
IN Washington, it's known as 'mission creep'. Here, the determination
of Gordon Brown to impose his ideology has seen vast chunks of
Government falling under his sway.
More than 20% of civil servants report to him via the Inland Revenue,
Customs or the Treasury, and his shadowing of Government departments
includes everything from defence, diplomacy and intelligence, to
environment, food and rural affairs.
Administration of large parts of the social security credit system
means the Treasury has effectively taken charge of huge swathes of the
Department of Work and Pensions and left the Department of Social
Security administering to only children, the unemployed and the old.
It is even said to be taking an increasing role overseeing Iraq's economic reconstruction.
The Private Finance Initiative, and the Chancellor's desire to control
future development of Britain's economy, has seen Treasury officials
adopting areas such as Technology and Innovation, Communications and
Technology Policy, and Science Policy and Assisted Areas.
The Treasury Select Committee, while applauding Treasury efforts to
develop new initiatives on regional productivity with the DTI,
acknowledges some of its activities may need streamlining. Select
Committee chairman John McFall concedes the Treasury now has 'a large
footprint over Government'.
One observer adds: 'Brown is like a spider sitting at the heart of the
Government, influencing economic development by the use of tax breaks.'
The position is acknowledged by McFall, who, while backing the
Chancellor's development of a sharper economic focus at the Treasury,
says it was always clear Brown would take a very firm grip on the
department.
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