Regional Development Agencies face the axe
In an interview with today's Financial Times, Shadow Business Secretary Alan Duncan said that Regional Development Agencies must "justify their existence" to escape being abolished by a Conservative government. He said:
"My experience with all RDAs is, after an initial ‘Oh yes, we like
them’, people very quickly say in the next sentence ‘But what the hell
do they really do?’ and that is the question mark.
I
don’t think they are changing the overall enterprise culture of any of
their regions. They’re doing a little bit of infrastructure, a little
bit of training, a spoonful of sugar here, a spoonful of sugar there.
[RDAs will] have to justify their existence and we’re
going to issue that challenge to them. I’m not saying we’re going to
abolish them. We might. Who knows?”
About time too! Regional Development Agencies cost taxpayers £2.2 billion a year, pay their executives top salaries, have silly names like One North East and Yorkshire Forward, and fail to prevent a growing regional divide. Scrapping them would allow the small company rate of corporation tax to be reduced by 6 percentage points, a far better way to help regional development.
We hope that Alan Duncan means what he says.
In an interview with today's Financial Times, Shadow Business Secretary Alan Duncan said that Regional Development Agencies must "justify their existence" to escape being abolished by a Conservative government. He said:
"My experience with all RDAs is, after an initial ‘Oh yes, we like
them’, people very quickly say in the next sentence ‘But what the hell
do they really do?’ and that is the question mark.
I
don’t think they are changing the overall enterprise culture of any of
their regions. They’re doing a little bit of infrastructure, a little
bit of training, a spoonful of sugar here, a spoonful of sugar there.
[RDAs will] have to justify their existence and we’re
going to issue that challenge to them. I’m not saying we’re going to
abolish them. We might. Who knows?”
About time too! Regional Development Agencies cost taxpayers £2.2 billion a year, pay their executives top salaries, have silly names like One North East and Yorkshire Forward, and fail to prevent a growing regional divide. Scrapping them would allow the small company rate of corporation tax to be reduced by 6 percentage points, a far better way to help regional development.
We hope that Alan Duncan means what he says.
Latest Blogs:
Why free bus travel for under-25s is a political gimmick
8:44 AM
13, Apr 2018
Jan Zeber
Why we publish the Town Hall Rich List
2:44 PM
11, Apr 2018
Jan Zeber
The New Bucks Unitary Authority
11:23 AM
15, Mar 2018
Jan Zeber
Why is the government wasting money on foreign aid and HS2, but making cuts to defence spending?
5:25 PM
25, Jan 2018
Chloe Westley
What does Carillion really mean for taxpayers?
4:18 PM
17, Jan 2018
Jan Zeber
The 25 prominent voices who support abolishing stamp duty
11:10 AM
14, Dec 2017
Jan Zeber