Thursday 16 February 2012

Regional assemblies

Ian Parker-Joseph (IanPJonPolitics) has an interesting post on the above subject, one in which he focuses on 'misdemeanours' within the East Midlands Regional Assembly, whilst linking to the little known UK Delegation of the Committee of the Regions. On that subject you then of course have this idiot 'bigging-up' that group of parasites. Interestingly, in his 'about' section the link to his cv does not work, hence it is necessary to view Wikipedia to then find he is another EU sycophant.

The Coalition may have stated an intention to disband Regional Assemblies and from the relevant page on parliamentary website we find it is the intention for this to have been effected by 1st April 2012. Where Regional Development Agencies are concerned, these were originally set up to, amongst other 'duties', manage the disbursement of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Rural Development Programme. As with all things political there is an 'element of 'smoke and mirrors' because, under the Coalitions programme for governmentwe find on page 10 the creation of Local Enterprise Partnerships to replace Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) and that these may take the form of the existing RDAs in areas where they are popular.

In other words: 'same old, same old', thus allowing the regionalisation programme to continue.

Just saying...............

3 comments:

TomTom said...

You never needed RDAs at all. All you needed was NOT to denationalise Regional Electricity Companies and sell them off. They could have been turned into Regeneration Engines by using their Cashflow to become local conglomerates as VEBA used to be in Germany before it became part of E.ON

They could have become Engineering Centres and fostered new companies with equity support and regenerated regions instead of having foreigners own them

WitteringsfromWitney said...

TT: True......

Edward Spalton said...

They don't go away and they don't give up.

There was a considerable campaign to give regional assemblies "democratic" credentials which failed most spectacularly in the North East.

The principle secretary at Prescott's department was Sir Peter Housden who is now the senior civil servant to the Scottish government. He is less than impartial and has been accused of urging his staff to "prepare for independence".

In the Midlands, George West, others and I attended a meeting at Aston University which was addressed by the political priest, Canon Kenyon Wright, who was the secretary of the Scottish constitutional convention. The chairman was to have been a Church of England bishop but he pleaded sickness on the day. In other parts of the country, similar Right Reverend gentlemen popped up as chairmen of regional "constitutional conventions" to give credibility to the regional project of "brining government closer to the people". This meeting was rigged, using the Delphi technique but we were sufficiently alert to destroy the appearance of consensus.

As a result, George West and I registered a limited company called "East Midland Constitutional Convention Ltd" to lay claim to the name and take the initiative. Others did the same in different parts of the country and the official programme was largely discredited for what it was.

Having been a member of the traditionalist Prayer Book Society, I was familiar with the concealed, authoritarian mindset of the "liberal" , politically correct Church establishment which was happy to support the EU-Vichyites. It is smooth, bland and outwardly beneficent-seeming, like the pro EU movement as a whole.

I have found that the more folksy a senior clergyman appears to be, the more determinedly authoritarian he really is. Bishops who call themselves by diminutives of their Christian names are generally the worst. So, if you come across a Bishop Tom, Dick or Harry - beware! Doubtless this is not infallibly correct but I have not yet found an exception.