Former UK prime ministers call for reform of ‘centre’ of government

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The UK prime minister should break up the Cabinet Office and make big decisions with only a handful of key colleagues, according to a report set to be unveiled on Monday by former premiers Sir John Major and Gordon Brown.

The report from the Institute for Government think-tank said the machinery of state around the prime minister was “weak” and “not capable” of fulfilling its role and holding Whitehall accountable for delivery.

The IfG said the “centre” of government — Downing Street, the Cabinet Office and the Treasury — needed radical reform, including a new executive committee of ministers and splitting up the Cabinet Office.

Britain’s system of executive power, in which the prime minister heads a large cabinet of ministers who run departments, first emerged in the 18th century and “worked well” for a time, the IfG said.

“[But] in recent decades, cracks have emerged. The UK has become a highly centralised country with a closed, and weak, centre,” according to the report.

The review, which will be launched by former Conservative and Labour prime ministers Major and Brown, is the result of a year-long “commission on the centre of government” convened by the IfG.

Former Tory chancellor Sajid Javid, Labour peer Baroness Sally Morgan and crossbench peer Baroness Louise Casey were among the commissioners.

Among its seven core recommendations, the commission called for the creation of an executive cabinet committee, made up of a handful of ministers appointed by the prime minister, to make strategic decisions.

The cabinet, which has 32 attendees, had become “too big”, the IfG said. The smaller committee would distil the government’s priorities and agree fiscal rules, spending plans and departmental budget allocations. These would then be approved by the full cabinet.

“The executive committee, and the centre as a…