Contemptuous arrogance of the Government over assemblies

Blair refuses to scrap assemblies
Yorkshire Post
11th November 2004
Simon McGee Political Editor
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PRIME Minister Tony Blair has refused demands from Tory leader Michael Howard to scrap Yorkshire's controversial unelected regional assembly, and the seven others like it around England, in light of last week's overwhelming rejection of plans for regional devolution.

It was now time to "bury" assemblies, Mr Howard said, but Mr Blair insisted the network of appointed chambers – which critics in Yorkshire have accused of being expensive talking shops – served "a useful purpose".

The explosive row at Prime Minister's Question Time yesterday came in the wake of the overwhelming vote last week against the introduction of elected mini-parliaments in the North-East, which saw an unexpected 78 per cent of voters say "no", and led to Monday's cancellation of the previously-postponed referendums in Yorkshire and the North-West."We abide by the result and will now continue to strengthen local democracy in other ways," Mr Blair told MPs. But Mr Howard asked: "Isn't it clear that the lesson of last week is that people want local government and less government not more government? There are now eight regional assemblies in England. They cost millions of pounds. We now know they have no popular support at all. When will you abolish them?"

Mr Blair replied: "We won't abolish them because they perform a perfectly good task of coordinating action in the regions."He added that they "built on" the work of Government Offices in the regions.

But Mr Howard persisted: "People don't want important matters like planning and housing taken away from local councils that people do identify with and given instead to regional assemblies that they don't identify with."
The people have spoken: Regional assemblies are dead. Why don't you bury them?"Mr Blair asked why, if Tories opposed the chambers, so many served on them."Because as long as they are there Conservative councillors have to minimise the damage they do," Mr Howard countered.

Dismissing the call to scrap them, Mr Blair insisted: "They most certainly do serve a purpose."

The Yorkshire and Humber Assembly, created in 2001, has 39 officers in Wakefield and Brussels and collects more than £1.5m in subscriptions from the region's 22 local authorities. It is voluntary and nothing like John Prescott's failed elected version, although it was widely seen as an elected chamber's bureaucracy-in-waiting.The organisation undertakes studies on region-wide issues and has statutory powers in two specific areas – regional planning and scrutinising the work of the regional development agency.But the assembly has spent recent months under siege, following revelations in the Yorkshire Post of mounting discontent over the body's rising subscription rates and the decision by two major local authorities, East Riding and North-East Lincolnshire, to pull out. Two more are debating withdrawal.Last month, a majority of Yorkshire's council leaders demanded massive budget cuts and put the assembly "on notice".The warning – from Tory, Liberal Democrat and Independent leaders – came as the assembly already faced a root-and-branch review, which is in the process of being overseen by a group of eight of Yorkshire's 22 council chief executives. They are due to report back at the end of January.

Yorkshire and Humber Assembly chairman Peter Box said last night: "Our assembly is a voluntary body, made up of partners from across Yorkshire and Humber who are determined to help create a better future for the region."The challenges to create that future remain the same and it is only by working on important issues such as transport, economic development, rural matters and together as a region that we can hope to tackle them and address the prosperity gap between the North and the South."

Last night, local Tories added their voices to their leader's demand.Vale of York MP Anne McIntosh said: "This vote shows that people do not want an expensive extra layer of regional government. The existing, unelected regional assembly is an expensive talking shop which should be shut down, and the money saved should be spent on frontline services, like cleaner streets."Harrogate leader Mike Gardner, whose council is one of two considering withdrawal, claimed the result last week "justified everything we've been saying".He said: "Damn the politicians. The ordinary man on the street has seen through it all."

simon.mcgee@ypn.co.uk
11 November 2004