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 Pickles to abolish 'interfering' regional Government Offices
The eight Government Offices in England's regions are to be abolished, it was announced today. Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said that the "arbitrary" division of the country into regions was not "efficient, effective or popular". Far from being voices of their regions, the Government Offices were "agents of Whitehall" interfering in local decision-making, he said. He announced his intention in principle to shut down the eight offices for the South-West, South-East, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, North-West, Yorkshire & the Humber and North-East, though the axe would not finally fall until the end of the Government's spending review this autumn. Mr Pickles said: "I do not believe the arbitrary government regions to be a tier of administration that is efficient, effective or popular. "Citizens across England identify with their county, their city, their town, their borough and their neighbourhood. The case for elected regional government was overwhelmingly rejected by the people in the 2004 North-East Referendum. "Unelected regional government equally lacks democratic legitimacy, and its continuing existence has created a democratic deficit." He added: "Let me be clear: The Government Offices are not voices of the region in Whitehall. They have become agents of Whitehall to intervene and interfere in localities, and are a fundamental part of the 'command and control' apparatus of England's over-centralised state." But shadow communities secretary John Denham said: "The decision leaves English regions without any way of co-ordinating economic development, major infrastructure projects and the effective co-ordination of public services for local people. "It is a decision being made under the guise of 'localism' but it will see a huge centralisation of power into Whitehall ministries. "What we now see with the abolishing of the Government Offices along with Regional Development Agencies, is the abandonment of much of England to Whitehall power." The Government has already announced the abolition of the Government Office for London, along with the Regional Spatial Strategies, the Regional Assemblies, Regional Leaders' Boards and Regional Development Agencies. The eight regional Government Offices in Cambridge, Nottingham, Newcastle, Manchester, Guildford, Bristol, Birmingham and Leeds have the job of delivering Government policies in their areas as well as providing ministers with feedback. Source: 24dash.com Due to problems with spam only SalfordOnline members can now leave comments. Becoming a member of SalfordOnline only takes a minute, just hit the red Join Us button at the top right hand side of the page to create your Personal account. |
