PM signals he will take on ‘watchdog state’ of blocker bodies and agencies

Sir Keir Starmer signalled he wants to take on a “watchdog state completely out of whack with the priorities of the British people”, as he set out plans to reform public services.

The Prime Minister spoke of his desire to cut red tape holding back housing developers and businesses, and signalled he wanted to reverse a sense among politicians “that we don’t trust ourselves” to take decisions.

Speaking during a visit to consumer goods company Reckitt in Hull, the Prime Minister said the unstable nature of global events like the war in Ukraine was having a greater impact than ever on Britain – which made it important to reform public services.

“We’ve created a watchdog state completely out of whack with the priorities of the British people and that is unfit for the volatile and insecure world we live in,” he said.

In a bid to keep civil servants on side with plans which could see their numbers slashed, the Prime Minister commended them as “some of the best talent in the country”, but said their energy had been misdirected into “blocking”.

Despite numbers of civil servants having grown by 130,000 since the Brexit referendum, the British state is “weaker than it’s ever been”. Sir Keir said.

He added: “I believe that working people want an active government. They don’t want a weak state, they want it to secure our future, if you like, to take on the big decisions so they can get on with their lives.

“So, we don’t want a bigger state, a more intrusive state, an over-expanding state, a state that demands more and more of people as it itself fails to deliver on core purposes. So, we’ve got to change things now.”

Sir Keir gave examples of what he called a “cottage industry of checkers and blockers” within the state who were frustrating the Government’s mandate to build more homes and clear NHS waiting lists.

This included the uncertain future of plans for 139 homes near Bingley, West Yorkshire, after “the regulator was not properly consulted on the power of cricket balls”.

He pointed to halted plans to build homes in Ebbsfleet, Kent, complaining of “jumping spiders stopping an entire new town”.

Sir Keir said there was a “good faith” tendency to introduce new regulation or checks following crises, but claimed “no end of agencies and arms-length bodies” had now “accumulated over the years”.

One arms-length body, NHS England, will be abolished to reduce duplication within the health service, the Prime Minister announced during his speech.

He added: “Most importantly, and crucially for me, the power of Parliament, of Government, has gone because we’ve sort of taken power away from Government, almost a sense that we don’t trust ourselves to take the decisions.

We should trust ourselves to take those decisions, take those decisions, get on with it. We’ll be held to account. We’ve said what we want to achieve by the next election. I know I’ll be judged against that, and rightly so.”

As he hit out at over-regulation, the Prime Minister confirmed plans to cut the cost of compliance with regulation for businesses by 25%.

He said: “Today I’m issuing a new target for our Government. We will make sure compliance costs for businesses are cut by a quarter.

“That’s 25% compliance costs that are going to go – and they will.

“That’s less red tape, more delivery, renewing our country with growth.”

The Prime Minister could face a clash with Civil Service unions after unveiling the plans.

Union leaders accused Sir Keir of “using the language of blame” to attack officials and called on him to avoid the “incendiary rhetoric” of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) in the US.