Evaluate The View That The Conventions Of Individual Ministerial Responsibility and Collective Ministerial Responsibility Are Both Still Important.

Introduction

• Individual Ministerial Responsibility = The principle by which ministers are responsible for their personal conduct and for their departments

• Collective Ministerial Responsibility = Principle by which ministers must support Cabinet decisions or leave the Executive.

• Both Individual and Collective Ministerial Responsibility are conventions that are written down in the Ministerial Code, which is published by the Prime Minister at the start of each administration to make clear the expectations of government ministers

Paragraph Focus

• Para 1 = Collective Ministerial Responsibility

• Para 2 = Personal Conduct

• Para 3 = Responsibility for Department

Para 1 - Weaker Argument = Not Important

• collective ministerial responsibility has had to be relaxed on a number of occasions in order for the government function effectively and not become too divided

• Prime Ministers have frequently suspended collective ministerial responsibility during referendums in order to prevent the issue of the referendum dividing and harming the government.

• Collective ministerial responsibility was relaxed in the coalition government

• it was agreed that Liberal Democrat ministers wouldn't be bound by collective responsibility on four key issues on which they strongly disagreed with the Conservatives

• eg. the construction of nuclear power stations

Para 1 - Stronger Argument = Important

• Ministers very rarely speak out against the government in public even if they disagree with government policy.

• They are therefore bound by collective responsibility

• when he was Chancellor in Boris Johnson’s government, Rishi Sunak publicly supported and voted for the Northern Ireland Protocol

• In February 2023 when Prime Minister himself, however, Sunak criticised the Northern Ireland Protocol for involving too much paperwork

• This shows that collective ministerial responsibility was important when he was Chancellor, as he may have privately disagreed with the government’s Northern Ireland Protocol, but he publicly supported it in the media

Para 2 - Weaker Argument = Not Important

• eg. March 2026, Starmer faced criticism after it emerged by had overruled warnings about the risks of appointing Peter Mandelson but no formal sanction or investigation was made

• this shows how ministers can shift blame to the system and civil servants rather than their own decision making, undermining the importance of individual ministerial responsibility

• this means that government ministers may not be held fully to account, increasing the democratic deficit (link to component 1) and damaging public confidence in the government

Para 2 - Stronger Argument = Important

• eg. Aug 2025, Rushanara Ali resigned as Homelessness Minister after it emerged that she had ended her tenant’s fixed term contract to evict them, and re-listed the house for rent at, an action she was seeking to ban under the Renters Rights Act

• this example illustrates how individual ministerial responsibility is still important as it ensures that ministers are transparent about their personal conduct

• this prevents the government from evading blaem, proving democratic accountability for the public and parliament

Para 3 - Weaker Argument = Not Important

• it can be argued that individual ministerial responsibility is no longer important as it is dependent on the personal honour of individual ministers, who are unlikely to offer their resignations if it will damage their career

• This is especially the case if an individual Prime Minister is very important to the career prospects of a minister and they are unpopular with other parts of the party

Para 3 - Stronger Argument = Important

• the other key aspect of individual ministerial responsibility is in relation to ministers being responsible for the running, policies and performance of heir departments

• ministers are obliged to give accurate information to Parliament and to offer their resignation to the Prime Minister if they knowingly mislead Parliament

• This can be seen in April 2018, when Amber Rudd resigned as Home Secretary after inadvertently misleading the Home Affairs Select Committee