Sunak grants Labour permission to start access talks with civil service

The Cabinet Office said the Prime Minister had authorised access talks.
Sir Keir Starmer has been granted access talks with the civil service (PA)
PA Wire
Nina Lloyd11 January 2024
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Rishi Sunak has granted Sir Keir Starmer permission to start formal access talks with the civil service ahead of a general election this year.

The meetings will be an opportunity for Labour to discuss its agenda for government and establish relationships with potential future colleagues in Whitehall.

Cabinet Secretary Simon Case will oversee and arrange the talks.

Access talks are held in the run-up to a general election, and are the only chance for the Opposition and the civil service to exchange information ahead of a potential handover date after the election.

The Leader of the Opposition must write to the Prime Minister requesting the meetings in order to initiate the process.

By convention, the Prime Minister is expected to respond by authorising the talks ahead of an election.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “In line with the long-standing process set out in the cabinet manual, the Prime Minister has authorised access talks between the official opposition and civil service.

“The Cabinet Secretary will oversee and arrange these discussions.”

A Labour source confirmed they had received the letter on Thursday evening and would reply “in due course”.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in