HI GA, your choice of Denmark as a benchmark is very prudent e.g. with international recognition of Denmark being a near perfect model.
Notwithstanding that any figure I give can only be subjective without a detailed statistical analyses using clearly definable and factually variable key markers. My first instinct (gut feeling) was to put Britain somewhere in the middle of the scale e.g. between 4 and 6. Over the years I’ve come to trust my instincts (first reaction) as they tend to be more accurate than if I spend too much time thinking about something without checking the facts (Reality Check).
In this respect I considered your example of the strength and clout the UKs financial industries. I assumed that by ‘clout’ you meant the influence the financial industries have over politicians and Government. If I’ve understood you correctly, then on this point my opinion is that Britain (like most of Europe) is far more like Denmark than the USA.
I base my assumption on my perception that in the USA politicians are in the pockets of big businesses; which in Britain and across Europe is not the case. The four key elements in the UK to separate politicians and Government from the influence of businesses are:-
• Strict laws and limits on political funding.
• The Register of Invested Interests in Parliament.
• Cross Party Select Committees, and
• Government Transparency.
The first two are policed by the ‘Electoral Commission’; the last item is government policy to publish everything and make it available on the web (except defence and security), and to televise everything they can ‘live’ in Parliament. Albeit, watching the Parliamentary channel on cable TV is often like watching paint dry.
The Select Committees, made up of members from all political parties, and members from the House of Lords, are independent of the Government. Not only can they question the Government and Government Ministers on specific points, and top civil servants if a Government Department has failed in its duty; but they can (and do) also call CEOs of large private businesses to answer questions in public where a large company has acted irresponsibly against the public interest.
There is nothing preventing a politician from having an invested interest in a private business, but he or she has to declare that interest in the ‘Register’ so that his or her actions in Parliament can be viewed in context of his or her invested interest (transparency).
The biggest control is the Electoral Commission. The Electoral Commission is an ‘Independent’ Government Body, answerable only to Parliament. There are lots of ‘Independent Government Bodies’ in the UK to act as ‘watch dog’ over a wide range of areas that are in the ‘Public Interest’. Although initially setup by Government, their strength is that they are only answerable to Parliament (which includes the House of Lords) so that Government cannot have any influence or control over them.
Not only does the Electoral Commission lay down strict rules and limits on the financial funding of political parties, but also for any election in the UK the Electoral Commission specify strict rules and limits on funding. For example in the 2015 General Election the Electoral Commission set a limit of £30,700 ($39,308) that each candidate can legally spend on their campaign; and following the election all candidate’s expenditure has to be audited by the Electoral Commission.
In this respect, following a fraud investigation on the 2015 General Election by the Electoral Commission, it was discovered that the Conservative Party failed to declare £275,813 ($353,153) spending costs in their campaign; and consequently were fined £70,000 ($89,630) for a breach of rules. The documentation the Electoral Commission had compiled during their own investigation was then passed onto the police who were doing their own criminal investigation into this; albeit, after more than 18 months investigation the police eventually decided not to prosecute.
The other aspect of the relationship between the Government and Financial Institutions in the UK is the Legislation the Labour Government introduced to control the financial sector following the world-wide financial crisis in 2008. This Legislation was refined by the Conservative Government, after they came into power, with the introduction of the ‘Financial Services Act 2012’.
Under the Conservatives ‘Financial Services Act 2012’ three ‘Independent’ bodies were created. The first two within the Bank of England and the third one ‘independent’ of the Bank of England; with the latter two being overseen by the first. The three new bodies being:-
• Financial Policy Committee (FPC),
• Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), and
• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The FPC (part of the Bank of England) overseas the PRA & FCA, and has responsibility to approve candidates applying for position in financial companies that’s considered to be ‘significant influence functions’ (SIF). As part of this process the FCA (below) has the right to veto individual candidates e.g. between 2011 and 2013 39 applicants to senior posts in financial institutions had their applications withdrawn.
The PRA (part of the Bank of England) has the responsibility for supervising the safety and soundness of individual financial companies.
The FCA (independent of the Bank of England) is tasked with protecting consumers from sharp practices, and making sure workers in the financial services sector comply with rules.
CONCLUSION
So in the light of the above (at this point) I would put my arbitrary and subjective score at around ‘6’ on the scale.
What are select committees and how do they work? https://youtu.be/iLvNmMJmD0w
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