Regional Assemblies entering their twilight years...elected or unelected.

ABOLITION DRIVE GATHERS STRENGTH
Western News11:00 - 02 September 2004
Tory MPs have pledged to step up their campaign to abolish the South West Regional Assembly as new figures revealed its wage bill has risen by 75 per cent in three years.

Financial records for the secretariat - which provides administrative and advisory support to the unelected regional assembly and other bodies - show it cost £1,788,899 in salaries over the last 12 months, compared with £1.5 million in the previous year.

Three years ago the wage bill was only £1m. The accounts found expenditure by regional civil servants on travel and hospitality fees, training and conferences also went up.

Overall the assembly cost more than £4m to run compared to £2.8m in 2001-02.

The revelations come at a time when an elected regional assembly for the South West appears further away than ever.The announcement by the Government in July that referendums in two out of the three areas in the first wave of assemblies had been postponed, has put a further dent in the flagship policy.

Tory MPs in the South West claim the move makes the prospect of an elected assembly for a region stretching from Gloucestershire to the Isles of Scilly more remote than ever and are likely to turn their anger on the unelected South West Regional Assembly after Parliament returns following the recess next week.

The assembly meets at County Hall in Exeter and the city is the most likely location for any future elected assembly."It has always been my view that these bodies should be abolished if an elected regional assembly is rejected by the voters and I will continue to argue this," said East Devon MP Hugo Swire."They are costing more and more and merely duplicate the responsibilities of many other people including MPs. They are a complete waste of money."

In Devon people have enough to pay for given high council tax rises and rises in water bills. They should not have the added bureaucracy of the South West Regional Assembly."

Assembly chief executive Bryony Houlden has responded: "The reality is that we are not a huge bureaucracy. It is a pretty small team and a pretty low wage bill. We have got more responsibilities as well because we are now the regional planning body."