Tories' agency plans are slammed (From The Northern Echo)

Tories' agency plans are slammed

6:00am Wednesday 11th November 2009

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By Rob Merrick »

TORY plans to replace regional development agencies (RDAs) were mired in confusion last night, after an admission that the new set-up would lack the same power.

Kenneth Clarke, the Conservative business spokesman, questioned his own party’s idea for town hall-led “local enterprise partnerships” to take over responsibility for economic development.

Under the plans, the legislation that created One North East and Yorkshire Forward would be repealed and their funding streams from Whitehall cut off.

In their place, councils would form partnerships with local businesses – although the Tories have suggested drastically- slimmed down RDAs could survive where popular.

At a lunch for journalists at Westminster, Mr Clarke was asked whether local councils were up to matching the RDAs’ task of spreading investment away from the South-East.

He replied: “I don’t think they would ever aim to do that”

– before going on to criticise Labour’s failure to “rebalance”

the economy away from dominance by the City of London.

The comment will be seized on by Labour as further evidence that Tory plans to sweep away all regional bodies – because they lack accountability – are ill thought out.

Labour points to a study, earlier this year, that concluded RDAs are “generating economic benefits”, adding at least £4.50 to regional economies for every £1 spent.

It is also warning that morale at One North East is being undermined by the Tory threat – with staff considering moving to more secure jobs.

Last week, it was revealed that Sir John Hall, who created the MetroCentre and chaired Newcastle United, will help the Conservatives create a successor to the RDA.

He will sit on the Tees Valley’s local enterprise partnership, after Tory complaints that the area is “playing second fiddle to a large Tynesidebased agency”.

Tory plans were already confusing, after communities spokesman Caroline Spelman told last month’s conference: “Regionalism was John Prescott’s vanity project and if we’re elected it’ll go.”

Despite the pledge that RDAs could survive if they wished to, Ms Spelman said their funding streams would be at the discretion of government departments.

Yesterday, Mr Clarke attacked Labour’s failure to end what he called the North- East’s “extraordinary dependence on public-sector employment”.

He said: “Labour has been totally complacent about the boom in the City of London.

We have got to go back to highvalue, hi-tech manufacturing.”

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