Efforts to reduce the sprawling network of government quangos—those quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations funded by the public purse yet operating far from direct ministerial control—have once again been exposed as little more than empty promises. Despite successive grandstanding pledges from both Labour and Conservative administrations to cut these bloated bureaucracies, the reality is a relentless expansion that continues to waste taxpayers’ money while undermining accountability.

The term “quango,” coined back in 1982, originally referred to bodies delegated certain government powers but granted operational independence. Yet nearly five decades on, the number of these unelected organisations has ballooned to over 2,170 official quangos. Some estimates suggest this figure was over 5,500 in the 1990s, reflecting ongoing failure to streamline government operations.

Keir Starmer, now Prime Minister, claimed during the election campaign he would slash “pointless bureaucracy” holding back British growth. Yet in just eight months in office, his Labour government has established 27 new quangos—including questionable creations like the Fair Work Agency and an Independent Football Regulator—that add redundant layers of oversight to previously efficiently managed sectors. This expansion starkly contradicts starry-eyed claims of reform and demonstrates that Labour’s rhetoric on cutting quangos was nothing but political spin designed to appease voters.

The Conservative Party under previous leaders was no better. David Cameron’s much-touted “bonfire of the quangos” abolished 285 public bodies but simultaneously created 184 new quangos, often disguised as government-owned companies. From Theresa May through to Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak, Whitehall steadily pumped out quangos—including the Regulatory Horizons Council and Active Travel England—that contribute to an ever-thickening bureaucratic smog.

Quangocrats, the unelected individuals earning hefty sums to serve on multiple quango boards, epitomise the rot besetting our political establishment. Analysis reveals individuals like Peter Hendy, earning over £300,000 as Network Rail’s chairman under Starmer’s government despite widespread rail failures, or Richard Lloyd, who held lucrative FCA and parliamentary posts while overseeing an organisation repeatedly branded “incompetent” for failing to protect consumers.

Others hold multiple paid roles with minimal accountability or effectiveness: Martin Spencer’s nine quango appointments saw him regularly missing meetings while pocketing £145,000 a year; Catharine Seddon’s four board roles netted considerable fees despite the apparent lack of clear public benefit.

This multifaceted quango system operates as a cozy club rewarding political cronies and career bureaucrats alike while shielding them from proper democratic scrutiny. Taxpayers fund these multiple sinecures, often for part-time or token duties, at a time when frontline public services remain underfunded and under pressure.

It is clear that genuine reform to dissolve these unwieldy, costly bureaucracies would require tackling entrenched interests that both major parties are unwilling to confront. The current government’s continued expansion of quangos undercuts any claim to economic prudence or serious administrative overhaul.

The British public deserves better than this endless cycle of promises followed by quango proliferation. Instead, the time has come for meaningful action to restore transparency, accountability, and fiscal responsibility—principles championed by those demanding a break from traditional party politicking and bloated Whitehall layers. Until then, the quangos will keep multiplying, and the taxpayer will keep footing the bill for a political establishment more interested in self-preservation than reform.

Source: Noah Wire Services