Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This book offers a critical reassessment of HM Treasury’s role in planning and controlling public spending in the UK, challenging the long-standing orthodoxy that portrays it as an omnipotent institution. Drawing on over 150 interviews and three decades of reform, the authors argue that the Treasury’s model of centralized financial control has failed to adapt to a profoundly fragmented governance landscape. Despite its reputation for prudence and control, the Treasury operates within a system increasingly characterized by incoherence, short-termism, and poor strategic co-ordination. The book interrogates the myth of Treasury control through the lens of the British political tradition, revealing how inherited governing ideas have shaped institutional behaviour and constrained reform. It combines conceptual analysis with empirical depth, presenting case studies on prisons, special educational needs, and homelessness—each illustrating the systemic consequences of fiscal orthodoxy and fragmented delivery chains. By examining how spending control mechanisms are interpreted and enacted across policy chains, the authors expose the limitations of top-down financial management in achieving public value. They argue for a shift from input-focused control to outcome-orientated strategy, highlighting the need for adaptive, cross-government approaches to budgeting and accountability. The Myth of Treasury Control is a timely and original contribution to debates on public financial management, governance reform, and institutional adaptation. It will appeal to scholars of public administration, political economy, and British government, as well as practitioners seeking to understand the deeper pathologies of UK fiscal governance.</jats:p>