Object to government lacking depth (5)
I believe the answer is:
thing
'object' is the definition.
(an object is a thing or item)
'government lacking depth' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'government' could be 'g' (abbreviation for government) and 'g' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'thin' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for thing that I've seen before include "Obsession" , "A creature" , "cup of tea" , "Object; gadget" , "Object, artefact" .)