If you want to know why regional assembles should be abolished read THIS article from today's Eastern Daily Press. Conservative MP Richard Spring has exploded with rage - and rightly so - about the decision to delay dualling the Barton Mills to Thetford stretch of the A11 from 2008 to as far away as 2015. And it's all been done on the QT by the non-elected East of England Regional Assembly. Admittedly it's a Department of Transport decision but it's been done on the recommendation of the EERA. Anyone who knows this tretch of road knows how dangerous it is, and the decision beggars belief. It's the final stretch of the A11 to be dualled and is much needed if Norfolk's economy is to grow. I think I have just found the lead for my Saturday column in this week's EDP.Monday, August 07, 2006
Regional Assembly Slammed by Suffolk MP
If you want to know why regional assembles should be abolished read THIS article from today's Eastern Daily Press. Conservative MP Richard Spring has exploded with rage - and rightly so - about the decision to delay dualling the Barton Mills to Thetford stretch of the A11 from 2008 to as far away as 2015. And it's all been done on the QT by the non-elected East of England Regional Assembly. Admittedly it's a Department of Transport decision but it's been done on the recommendation of the EERA. Anyone who knows this tretch of road knows how dangerous it is, and the decision beggars belief. It's the final stretch of the A11 to be dualled and is much needed if Norfolk's economy is to grow. I think I have just found the lead for my Saturday column in this week's EDP.
That reminds me. I was going to post that I read the thing about you in the EDP. Apparently you're writing a column in there now. What day is it going to be in on?
ReplyDeleteP.S. The picture of you was AWFUL. You should have complained. ;)
Glasshouse, wasn't the best, was it?! Luckily they use a different one on my column. The column appears every other Saturday. The next one is this Saturday.
ReplyDeleteBoris, Eastern Daily Press - as spelt out in full higher up the article!
ReplyDeleteIt's a Suffolk/Norfolk thing. Right, I'm off the read the EADT ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I read this story in the EDP about a month ago.
ReplyDeleteit was in today's edp.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I read this story in the EDP about a month ago.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason they often repeat things.
Regional assemblies are a socialist/lefty (pleonasm, I realise)control tool. As always, get control of the discussion. Given that huge, vast countries like the United States, Australia and Canada don't have them, you have to wonder why tiny Britain needs another layer of people flaying civil society with more legislation. They're designed to put ever more power in the hands of unaccountable overlords.
ReplyDeleteDon't like the Eastern Regional Assembly being indirectly elected? Then the remedy is obvious: institute direct elections. Demand them.
ReplyDeleteCommittee of the Regions, innit? I hate to invoke either the Europhiles or Phobes but it's an EU construct. See here for more.
ReplyDeleteDavid, it is a totally unnecessary layer of government. Everyone in the country apart from a few Blairite scorched earthers can see that. No, the answer is to abolish them.
ReplyDeleteThe EDP is The Eastern Daily Press
ReplyDeletethe newspaper for Norfolk & Suffolk
I thought we were going to have referrendum on if we had regional assemblies?
That is presumably Ian because you are quite happy to have SEVEN TIMES as much cash determined by non-elected regional quangos as by local councils. These quangos are effectively accountable to no one, local or national. Is this the 'Tory way'?
ReplyDeleteIs it not the Tories who control the eastern regional assembly?
ReplyDeleteIf you could abolish them and devolve power downwards, I would agree with you. But what would invariably happen is that the existing powers of regional assemblies would be accreted by Whitehall. It's the nature of politics, old bean.
ReplyDeleteYou should link to your edp column from here, btw. Or has edp24 not put it online yet?
David, got there before me in saying that the solution is that they should be elected.
ReplyDeleteDear Iain
ReplyDeleteDo Regional Assembly members get paid (if yes, how much ?)
Are these Asemblies a way of finding employment for the otherwise unemployed/able
Your obedient servant etc
G Eagle
Anonymous at 8.32am, did you actually bother to wake up this morning? Because you must have had your eyes shut when you read the article. I was criticising the EERA and have called for its abolition. Wakey wakey.
ReplyDeleteWhilst sympathising with Iain's and others point of view may I point out that the lack of an arterial road has kept Norfolk largely unspoilt and has inhibited the commercialism which has ruined the west country since the M5 - A 361 trunk route came into being. Some of us up here like it that way.
ReplyDeletePresident Strapper (for it is he), It was a manifesto commitment in 2005 to abolish them and it had damn well better be next time. I know of no Conservative who thinks they are a good thing. Why do Tory councillors sit on them? Presumably to limit the damage they might do if Labour and LibDems had them all to themselves. We can all indulge in gesture politics, but sometimes being pragmatic is the best option.
ReplyDeleteLyn King, I do understand that viewpoint and have some sympathy with it. But we're not talking about a motorway here, merely a dual carriageway. The rest of it has been completed.
ReplyDeleteIain, this is not an argument to have on this post. But the whole debate about how close to the people their Government should be is going to be crucial at the next election.
ReplyDeleteAs a Welshman, living in England [economic migrant!] I had advance warning of the problems the EU would cause for Britain. Wales has had a difficult relationship with Westminster due to the distance from the decision makers, with UK wide policies being imposed on it.
The Welsh Assembly has introduced some balance, but at the cost of introducing layers of bureaucracy.
The EU is likewise imposing layers of bureaucracy on us, and taking away our sovereignty further daily.
Why not learn a lesson from the Welsh [!] and try to grab back some of the power ? Yes, for the
WESTMINSTER parliament - rather than wasting time on Regional Assemblies.
This might seem to blow a hole in my argument about a Welsh Assembly. But, given a choice, I think we all need to support the pre-eminence of Westminster not un-elected Brussels Bureaucrats.
Iain, you have still to address the point that if the regional assembly recommended this course of action then it was Tory members on it that did so!
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should have a word with them!
Hey, I'm unemployable. I should get on this immediately; thanks for the tip!
ReplyDeleteHmmm - I'd expect better of you Iain. Seems a bit too much manufactured outrage going around here.
ReplyDeleteAnd a distinctly odd issue to get all snotty about. The East of England Assembly may not be directly elected, but its membership is made up of local councillors and it chair is a Tory - Cllr Sue Sida-Lockett, Deputy Leader of Suffolk County Council. Hardly the semi socialist bureaucracy conjured up by your more tin-foil hatted commentators.
Sometimes decisions need to be made on spending priorities at a regional level, and I would guess that it would be as well for them to be made by local councillors meeting together to discuss the matter as by central government.
Incidentally, a quick google reveals the following:
"Commenting on her re-election as chair, Cllr Sue Sida-Lockett said: "As the Regional Assembly is the only grouping that represents local government and users of local services, and is open to public scrutiny, I look forward to using our combined knowledge and expertise to influence the Government decision making processes.""
So they succeeded. Tory assembly talks round government to its point of view. Surely something for you to celebrate rather than get all foamed up about.
You still haven't addressed the main charge: that the Regional Assembly is run by the Conservatives.
ReplyDeleteOne little fact that, in the heat of the moment I'm sure, you failed to mention is that regional assemblies predominently consist of elected local authority councillors. Not 100% to be sure, but in the case of EERA that means 32 out of 105 members.
If this decision shouldn't be made at a regional level, who should make it? As a project it effects several local authorities, so of course no single one should be allowed to make the decision alone. And I'm sure you wouldn't want to see it being made by the Department for Transport. So who?
And I think you misunderstood the point about QUANGOs having 7 times the spending power of local government. The argument for elected regional assemblies was that it would bring all of these under democratic control. The Conservative Party, while making vague pieties about abolishing QUANGOs (who doesn't?), is happy to see them remain unaccountable.
God, the British are like sheep. You have no spines. You are the most overgoverned - and at the same time one of the most lawless - country in the free world.
ReplyDeleteDear Rain-Coaster
ReplyDeleteIf you get appointed to the Regional Assembly, won't you as a Colonial need a work-permit .....
...... or perhaps not, if it brings high pay/expenses but no work or responsibility
Verity
ReplyDeleteVerity said...
God, the British are like sheep. You have no spines. You are the most overgoverned - and at the same time one of the most lawless - country in the free world.
1:11 PM
What do you mean one of the most lawless countries. I bet we have more laws than most, many of these are stupid and most are not enforced, but lawless, never!
I guess you mean we have more law breakers than most, true, very true.
sammy the sailor, I guess you mean we have more law breakers than most, true, very true.
ReplyDeleteYes, and sometimes it is OK - when it is to resist oppressive laws and regimes - thinking of the Suffragettes, Greenpeace, and the protestors who have managed for the third time to get onto a US plane at Prestwick.
I speak as one who came within a heartbeat of being arrested at the end of the Save Radio 4 Long Wave march on Broadcasting House in 1992. The policeman said to me that if the marchers did not disperse immediately, "I will start making arrests and I will begin with you". I thought for a nanosecond about how this would look on my cv ...
sammy the sailor - I stand, of course, corrected. You're right. You have laws coming out the wazoo, especially since the Great Dictator has passed over 700 (!) since he slithered into office.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine the explosion of public outrage if someone in DC recommended "regional assemblies" for the United States? And this is a vast, humongous country. (GtBritain would fit into the state of Texas 3 1/2 times.)
Why are you so dependent on being governed by other people? You're very passive people. Quanquos, as well. They're outrageous!
indigo - the protesters in Scotland were trespassing on a plane that does not belong to them. They should be thrown in the slammer and have to pay substantial damages. I'd like to see them fined £5,000 each and told to mind their own business in future.
ReplyDeleteThese unelected morons cannot make decisions about who can land at a British airport. We have elected morons to take such decisions.
The sheer arrogance of thinking the greatness of their souls excuses them from laws that bind ordinary mortals is breathtaking. These socialists/pacifists/fellow travellers are dangerous people. And for some reason, they thrive on British soil.
I think I can work in the UK with my EU passport (complicated story, trust me) and there's really nothing about serving on committees that resembles work anyway, is there?
ReplyDeleteAnd hold on about Greenpeace: Office #1 is located right here in Vancouver, thank you very much. It's not a uniquely British thing. Don't make me get my Birkenstocks!!! You wouldn't like me with my Birkenstocks!
OK, I only tend to travel on it in off peak periods and I don't know the accident stats. But, this is my favourite section of the A11. It is the one bit that isn't a concrete strip. It is the one bit that when I take that route to the in laws in Great Yarmouth I still recognise from travelling up to Swannington in my school holidays as a kid (though I prefer going up the A12).
ReplyDeleteBetter that you argue for better rail services to Norfolk.
duncan borrowman - gosh. How interesting.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.northumberlandtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1117&ArticleID=1625204
ReplyDeleteCould the conservatives please get off these assemblies?
The A1 has had aimiliar problem with the NE unelected assembly
I'm struggling to see quite why you blame the RA, Iain. As others have noted it's Tory dominated. But that aside, let's consider the situation objectively. There isn't enough DfT funding to upgrade every major road in the E of E; if you want to apportion blame for that blame DfT. So, logically a prioritised list needs to be drawn up to determine which schemes are delivered first and which must wait for a few years. Isn't it more sensible to allow the collected local authorities, together with other reps such as the regional chamber of commerce, to determine this collectively? I realise you could allow individual local authorities to make representations to DFT but surely every single one is going to argue that their local scheme should be top priority. What is so wrong with allowing senior figures from elected local authorities to come up with a regional view to make representations to central Govt? The alternative is allowing unaccountable and remote civil servants in Whitehall to make the recommendation. I'd rather have such decisions taken closer to the people.
ReplyDeleteRegen-Coaster
ReplyDeleteWas ist ein "Birkenstck"