The Universal Credit fiasco shows that we need a new modelof Ministerial accountability

The Government’s Universal Credit scheme looks to be unravelling, with the Public Accounts Committee recently levelling a series of withering criticisms at the Department for Work and Pensions. Dave Richards and Martin Smith argue that the Secretary of State’s decision to pin the blame for these failures on his departmental officials marks the culmination of a long term blurring of established lines of accountability. The authors argue that Britain need a new version of the “Haldane Principle”, fit for the 21st Century, to clarify who takes the blame when things go wrong.