Regional Spaghetti
December 2nd, 2007This last week has been rather busy - enjoyed a Pub Meeting at the Fox and Hounds in Wroughton last Thursday with local residents and today, I appeared on BBC West’s Politics Show, talking about Regional Development Agencies. John Prescott’s top down one size fits all approach to government in England has failed. Its time to encourage real localism by trusting local authorities to get on with the job of attracting inward investment by working together on a basis that is far more understandable to people.
The South West Region is England’s largest region. As the RDA’s representative noted today, Tewkesbury is closer to Scotland than it is to Land’s End. The interests of Devon and Cornwall residents are vastly different from those of Swindon, Wiltshire and Bristol, for example. Whilst the M4 Corridor is a recognisable economic zone, the same can hardly be said of the largely rural South West.
This discussion had been prompted by disclosures to Parliament that the RDAs have been running up significant expenses on trips to the South of France, large taxi bills and meetings at places such as Centerparcs. I am reminded of the increasingly difficult public relations battle that was fought by the Welsh Development Agency in the 1990s. The problem is that quangos are increasingly involved in the making of policy, as opposed to its mere implementation. As soon as that happens, fundamental questions of democracy arise.
The Government has said that it is looking at the concept of Regional Select Committees in the Commons. Gordon Brown has appointed Regional Ministers. Ben Bradshaw is Minister for the South West. It is here that we start getting tangled in administrative spaghetti. The South West RDA is accountable to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR, as opposed to the far simpler DTI). Mr. Bradshaw is a Minister of State at, wait for it, Health!? How will this work? Labour has lost its way here.
A move away from artificial regions and towards strong city, town and county government will win public acceptance and enhance our democracy.
For a look at the discussion, please go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/default.stm
Look for the page relating to the West of England and then go to about the eighth minute for the discussion. It will be available for the next seven days.
