Real power is held not by the elected government, but by the permanent civil service, especially

the Cabinet Secretary and the sprawling, incoherent bureaucracy of the Cabinet Office.

That's the view of Reform UK's Danny Kruger, who this week launched his party's plans

for reforming the civil service. So, beyond the rhetoric, what is in these plans and will they help?

I'm Hannah White and this is Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.

Reform UK say that plans to underpin the role of the civil service in legislation are an example of top officials using the weakness of the current government as an opportunity to extend their power.

Kruger says he will restore the authority of the Prime Minister by abolishing the Cabinet Office and the role of the Cabinet Secretary.

So how does the party's diagnosis of the problems

facing the civil service stack up? And what would their solutions mean for government? And after

an election in 2024, when no one wanted to talk about Brexit, Kirstama has put closer relations

with the EU at the heart of his latest attempted reset, and former health secretary, Wes

Streeting, lobbed the possibility of rejoining into the battle to replace him. Meanwhile, the UK

seems to be still bogged down in finalising deals with the EU reached at the summit a year ago.

Weeks away from the 10th anniversary of the referendum, we'll look at where things are with the reset and where they might go. Weeks away from the 10th anniversary of the referendum, we'll look at where things are

with the reset and where they might go. Joining me throughout, still annoyed that the rest of the

IFG wouldn't let him open the windows in a heat wave, is executive director Alex Thomas. Hi, Alex.

What have you got against blinds? Well, no, I'm in danger of litigating all this again.

I would just suggest that if there's a breeze outside and there are lots of people in a room and

lots of computers, it's worth opening the windows. I entirely accept the advice of our friends

who focus on adaptation that closing the windows when it's hotter outside

is a reasonable thing to do. But I just don't think it pertains in the office environment in which we exist at the Institute for Government. You can cut that if you want, Hannah. Tempting as it is to discuss this for the rest of the podcast. We will continue. I am also joined by senior fellow, Jill Rutter. Hi, Jill. Hi, Anna. You're not at the cricket today or perhaps you are later. There's cricket on later, so we'll have to see whether we go to that, but there are

other... So, Jill Rutter. Hi, Jill. Hi, Anna. You're not at the cricket today or perhaps you are later. There's cricket on later, so we'll have to see whether we go to that. But there are other

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