Edwin Poots should not be a minister if he is unable to get civil servants to carry out decisions
The basic role of a minister is to make decisions and ensure that the civil servants in his/her department carry them out.
Civil servants in the department are accountable to him/her.
Yet the DUP MP Sammy Wilson writes (October 21, see link below): “Despite opposition from ... Edwin Poot ... officials have taken the instructions of the Secretary of State for Agriculture in Whitehall to behave as if they were accountable to no one.”
If Mr Wilson’s words are true (and I have no reason to suppose otherwise), this means that Edwin Poots is not fulfilling the basic role of a minister as stated above.
And if this is so, why is he being maintained in office by Arlene Foster?
What a complete and utter shambles!
Philip Black, Lurgan
• Sammy Wilson: London talks tough about the European Union, but then gives in to them over Northern Ireland
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