CHANGING THE RULES
Ministers who break code in ‘minor’ way can now keep their jobs, Downing Street says
MINISTERS who break standards rules in a “minor” way will no longer have to quit.
Any breach of the strict Ministerial Code usually ends careers, but Downing Street last night published a new “watered-down” rulebook.
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New punishments can be a “public apology, remedial action, or removal of ministerial salary for a period”.
Ministers who knowingly lie to the Commons will still be expected to quit.
Critics accused the PM — on a visit yesterday to the CityFibre Training Academy in Stockton-on-Tees — of trying to soften accountability.
But No 10 argued the change was recommended by the anti-sleaze watchdog.
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