Whitehall, the Treasury and Policy-Making

Abstract

As outlined in Chapter 1, a common theme running through existing literature on the causes of Britain’s hesitation towards European economic integration since the late 1970s has been the influence of domestic political conditions over government policy — in effect, politicians doing what has been necessary for political survival. Limited detailed examination has taken place of the possible analytical basis for that hesitation or, more broadly, what kind of input (if any) to the decision-making process has been provided by civil servants (‘officials’). Assertions made by other commentaries on this policy area have tended to focus on governments’ relationships with their parliamentary parties rather than on government ministers’ interaction with the Whitehall machine that is perceived to be at their disposal for the development of policy, should they so choose to use it. The case studies in Chapters 3–10 will endeavour to fill those gaps in the existing literature. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a framework for those case studies by trying to identify what have been the typical features of the minister-official relationship in the general policy-making process in Britain. This information will also be useful for identifying any wider significance of the findings in these case studies for our understanding of the broader political landscape in Britain, beyond the specific issue of EMU.