Mandatory code of conduct central to reforms to local government standards regime, minister says

At the foundation of the Government’s planned reforms to the local government standards regime is the proposal for a mandatory code of conduct, the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, Jim McMahon, has said.

Speaking at a Westminster Hall debate this week on the effectiveness of the Nolan Principles in local government, the minister accused the previous government, in the early part of its time in offic, of engaging in “acts of municipal vandalism” through the removal of the standards regime and the audit regime, and measures such as the removal of councillors’ pensions in England.

“They took away the architecture that allowed local government to thrive," he suggested.

McMahon revealed that there were more than 2,000 submissions to the Government’s recent consultation on local government standards, which closed on 26 February 2025, and said the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government was working “at pace” to analyse the results.

The Minister said: “While the standards proposals that the Government have been consulting on are for whole system reform, at their foundation is the proposal for a mandatory code of conduct. We believe that a mandatory code is vital to achieving consistency across all the various types and tiers of local government.

“The current regime simply requires all local authorities to adopt a code that is consistent with the Nolan principles. Some take the de minimis approach of simply listing the seven principles. Others have very detailed local codes. That lack of consistency is not helpful to the system overall. It is confusing and means that we cannot have confidence that all are judged to the same standard equally across the system.”

McMahon pointed out how that does not happen in the devolved nations. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have mandatory codes of conduct in place, based on the Nolan principles but setting out detailed interpretation of the expected behaviours, he said.

Alberto Costa, the MP for South Leicestershire who secured the Westminster Hall debate, called on the government, in its programme of local government reorganisation, not to neglect the way standards are dealt with.

Responding, McMahon said: “I would be careful not to attach local government reorganisation as an inherent risk to the standards and behaviours of councillors. I think this is cultural, and it is about a lack of framework and, honestly, slightly a result of a standards regime that has not got teeth.

“There are some members who know that what they are doing is not right, and that that is not just about free speech, but about abusing the position they hold and the freedoms. We often see that relationship, where elected members who are holding court in the council chamber attack officials on the top table who have no power to respond themselves. We see that power imbalance taking place.”

He added: “I suspect that most elected members who are behaving in that way know exactly that their behaviour is not okay, but they also know that the standards regime has no teeth to deal with that, so what are the consequences? I would be careful not to attach that behaviour to the reorganisation point, because we want to rebuild the system from the ground up, so that every council in England—whether they are part of the 21 counties going through reorganisation or are among the rest—is subject to the same robust standards regime that does have teeth.”

On warnings from Costa that there should not be a return “to a time of bureaucratic excess and politically motivated complaints threatening freedom of expression”, McMahon said: “This is about having a proportionate system that can hold up to scrutiny and be tested, but it has to be mandatory. It must have sanctions that matter, including the power of suspension, the power to withhold allowances, if that is correct, and the power for premises bans, if there is a safeguarding risk at play.

“We have examples where councillors can be on police bail for sexual assaults, and during police bail, they can attend council meetings and attend the premises. That clearly would not be acceptable to most members of the public, but the current regime allows that, and that cannot be allowed to stand. Perhaps more controversially, the system should include disqualification in some cases for more serious breaches.”

On the Nolan Principles, which have been in place now for 30 years, the Minister said: “I have no doubt that the Nolan principles will continue to be enormously influential in contributing to the effectiveness of local government. They are a prescription for the values to foster a culture of integrity and ethical behaviour.

“This Government are committed, at the heart of our ambition for the whole of local government, to creating a fit, legal and decent local government sector, and that is what the public have a right to expect. To be effective, local government must serve to foster vibrant local democracy. It must encourage a wide diversity of talented people to step forward to represent their local communities in that position, and we are committed to working to that end.”