Net closing. Assembly staff should start scanning the Guardian jobs section

Isolated by huge 'No' vote
Nov 10 2004
By Ross Smith,
The Journal

After last week's referendum gave a resounding 'no' to an elected regional assembly, Ross Smith asks if the man heading the unelected body for the North-East can still justify his job.


Stephen Barber is putting a brave face on it, but right now he is a man under fire.
Just minutes after plans for an elected assembly were dealt a crushing defeat by North-East voters last week, his own job was being called into question.
As director of the existing unelected assembly, opponents of regional government were instantly questioning whether his role retains any legitimacy in the wake of the referendum.

North East No Campaign director Neil Herron dug deep into his knowledge of opera to come up with the painful pun "Barber of s'Evil" for one press release.

It raised a smile from Mr Barber - but he knows that there is a serious message behind it.
A more friendly reaction came from the beleaguered Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who amid attacks from a reinvigorated Tory regions team, insisted the unelected bodies will continue. However, it may not, ultimately, be up to him.

North-East councils pay a five-figure subscription fee to sign up to the assembly on a voluntary basis, and, on Monday, some were already discussing pulling out.
But Mr Barber is defiant in his view that a regional body must remain in place.
He said: "We have to be clear what was the question they were being asked. We were being asked for a view on an assembly of a certain size, with a certain backing, with a certain set of powers.
"The clear message, I think, was people did not want something with more bureaucracy, more levels of government, perhaps did not want change in local government, something that was going to cost, with a new building, a new lot of politicians - the present assembly is none of those things.
"People have not been asked for a view on the present assembly, and to draw a link between the two is a bit tenuous and a bit mischievous on the part of some people."
But he admits very few people would be able to give a view on the unelected assembly, with many barely aware of its existence. Based at the Guildhall, the assembly, along with the linked Association of North East Councils, has for the past five years been a forum for building strategies which cut across local authority boundaries in the region.
It employs 28 staff, has 72 members drawn from local government, business trade unions, voluntary organisations and various public sector bodies, and runs at an annual cost of £2.2m.
Of that, £860,000 comes from subscriptions from councils, with the rest coming from central government. Mr Barber said: "If you say which buildings has the assembly put up, which roads has it built, you can't because you have to look at the finances the assembly has.
"But if you were to say in what ways has the assembly helped to shape government policy, I think in a whole number of ways. In the area of crime and community safety, in areas of health, there's now a level of debate in these two areas for example that was just literally not taking place before." Mr Barber is confident North-East council tax payers get value for money for the 50p-a-year they contribute to the assembly's running costs.

He expects some councils to question whether their subscription is one expenditure they can do without laying on tax payers next year.

He said: "Last year, 25 local authorities decided that they were going to continue to contribute. Some might well drop out. They might drop out for a whole range of reasons, we just need to wait and see.
"If an authority decides to leave the association and assembly, is the organisation weakened? Perhaps - it depends on the authority.
"But the agenda would still continue. We would have to fight. You can't suddenly stop reminding ministers about the North-South divide just because authority A or authority B isn't in membership."

Perhaps Mr Barber and Mr Prescott could share a bunker as the flak from the anti-regionalists keeps flying.

Tory Euro MP Martin Callanan said: "I respect Stephen, but he's talking nonsense. The voter shows people do not want regionally-based political structures. It flies in the face of that to continue with the regional agenda."

Mr Herron added: "Mr Barber's in an uncomfortable position. I don't think this organisation has got a very long lifespan."