The hanging-together of the Tories has become an obstacle to creating a new patriotic consciousness
As the Coalition’s fourth birthday approaches, we begin a series examining its record to date.
We must give other cities north of the capital more of a chance.
Is the capital driving the national economy or sucking life out of other parts of the country?
And not a word about Unite’s attempt to take over the Labour Party. Some saviour.
Very pleasing Written Statement from the Communities and Local Government Minister Baroness Hanham It revokes the Regional Strategies for the West Midlands, North West and South West. She says: Subject to Parliamentary ratification, this completes the abolition of every Regional Strategy in England, thereby fulfilling an important Coalition Agreement objective and ushering in a new […]
Lots of bad Government policy is due to the requirements of our membership of the European Union. Politically there is not much benefit to Ministers in pointing this out, of course. "Don't blame us we don't have real power," is hardly a rousing declaration for the electorate. (Unless, of course, it were to be combined […]
I am pleased to see the Government are taking a further step in abolishing unelected regional government in England, with proposals ending regional statistics. The consultation states: “The primary focus of statistical data collection in the Department is at a local authority level. However when publishing data we usually provide statistics at a range of […]
By Tim Montgomerie On ToryDiary yesterday Paul Goodman reviewed Eric Pickles' impressive early actions and the five big challenges he still faces. Today the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has completed his abolition of Labour's sprawling regional bureaucracy. Already axed were Regional Development Agencies, Regional Strategies, funding for Regional Leaders’ Boards and […]
The new Government is set to finish off the last vestiges of unelected Regional Assemblies, handing power back to local councils and saving the taxpayer up to £16m a year. The last Government made an empty promise to axe Regional Assemblies. In fact in April, Assemblies re-emerged, stealthy re-branded as Local Authority Leader Boards. Like […]
The Government plan to "replace" Regional Development Agencies. Glyn Gaskarth says they should simply be abolished. The UK Government has an almost £160 billion annual budget deficit. Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) cost around £2 billion per annum. They should be abolished because they have failed to meet the two objectives they were originally set. These were: […]
Mark Wallace of the Taxpayers Alliance welcomes Conservative local government policy getting more edge – but he wants more details It’s taken a while for the election debate to move from providing mood to meat, but at last we are starting to hear some more details about what might happen in local government should David […]
Mark Wallace of the TaxPayers' Alliance suggests that councils looking to save money could start by withdrawing their funding of the unelected regional assemblies. With a recession putting downward pressure on tax revenue and upward pressure on welfare spending, all councils are, or ought to be, looking for savings. Ditching their financial commitments to Regional […]
Nick Vaughan is an elected member of Herefordshire Council in the only urban ward held by the Conservatives, a Director of the Young Britons’ Foundation and former National Chairman of Conservative Future. The recent announcements by Caroline Spelman, Shadow of Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government should, on the whole, be welcomed. Conservatives […]
London has morphed into an economic giant, creating a black hole, sucking in the best talent from the rest of the UK.