Transitions: Preparing for changes of government

Catherine Haddon and Peter Riddell examine what happens when a general election leads to a change of government from one political party to another.

Our main aim is to:

• consider how such transitions have worked in the past in central government in the UK
• look at the lessons from the experience of other administrations within the UK and overseas
• make recommendations about how the process can be improved

The yardstick for judging such transitions is how far both an incoming administration and the Civil Service are prepared for such changes, and how quickly a new government is able to function effectively.

This is emphatically not about the Civil Service neutering a new government; rather, it is the reverse, about how a new administration can use the levers of power to implement its programme.