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The Great Prescott Hoax?
By David Curry - January
2004
The Great North Vote - that is what the Government is calling
it. I have a better description: The Great Prescott Hoax? We are talking
about the Government's plans to foist a new tier of politicians and bureaucrats
on people in Yorkshire in the shape of regional assemblies.
I talk to hundreds of people in my constituency every month. They are
concerned about the care of elderly relatives, health, problems with welfare
and tax, policing and anti-social behaviour, education, housing, and the
demands of farming in the uplands. They often have their own ideas about
how to deal with these problems. But there is one suggestion I have never,
ever heard - that the answer to a problem is to create a new layer of
politicians!
Yet this is exactly what the Government is proposing not just in Yorkshire
but in the North East and North West too. When it asked people what they
thought about a regional assembly it got a grand total of 1,159 responses
out of Yorkshire's five million people. On this flimsy basis - and egged
on by the Liberal Democrats - it has ordered a vote in the autumn.
For the vast majority of people in Yorkshire and Humber a Yes vote would
mean creating a new layer of Government on top of existing councils. In
North Yorkshire the Government intends to abolish the existing county
and district councils and create new all-purpose authorities before slapping
a new tier of regional government over them.
But what would an assembly actually do? Strictly speaking we do not even
know: the Government has not even published the legislation setting out
its powers. We will not get this until July, we are told. This is Prescott's
version of Blind Date! But the Government has spelled out the intended
powers. It will take strategic decisions mainly in the planning area.
I set out to find out what this would add up to. A good test is to ask
how much public spending it would actually manage. The answer from Nick
Raynsford, the local government minister, was £570m a year with
perhaps another £159m if the fire service was "regionalised."
That sounds like a lot of money but against the total of Government spending
in the region it is peanuts. In fact it is about 2 per cent of total spending.
Put it in old money. The Government wants to set up a whole new tier
of politicians to be in charge of spending…….about sixpence
in the Pound. It will be the smallest bang for the buck since I tried
to light a damp sparkler on Guy Fawkes' Day!
So Yorkshire is not being offered a Parliament like Scotland where real
decisions on health, education, care of the elderly and economic development
are taken (despite the escalating £400m cost of the new Parliament
building.) It is not even being offered the much more dilute powers of
the Welsh assembly. Yorkshire is being offered a piddling, token, of a
parliament. That is why it is such a hoax.
An expensive hoax as well. The Government is throwing taxpayers' money
at a Yes vote. The public "information" campaign - in reality
a campaign for a Yes vote - in the three Northern regions which will have
referendums is already costing £500,000, and we are still months
away from the vote. Those arguing for a Yes vote will have far more money
than the No side of the argument: in cash terms it will be Goliath (backed
by the Government) against David.
If the outcome is Yes the Government admits the assembly will cost about
£30m to set up and about £25m a year to run. If the example
of the London Assembly or the Scottish Parliament are anything to go on
those costs will escalate. You can buy a lot of healthcare or education
for that money.
I respect people who believe in real devolution of powers from London.
But that is not on offer. I sympathise with people who want stronger accountability
to local people. But how on earth will power be brought closer to the
people if each member of the assembly represents a quarter of a million
inhabitants?
But, its supporters say, this is just a beginning. It will grow into
something much bigger. This is a dangerous argument. If I am going to
get on a train I want to know its destination, not be led on a magic mystery
tour at my own expense.
There is much better and simpler alternative: use the institutions we
already have more effectively. Make sure they exercise proper control
of what they spend and answer efficiently and imaginatively to public
needs. We have enough government: we want voter power over the everyday
issues which affect the lives of individuals and families.
A Yorkshire assembly would mean more politicians and more cost- paid
for out of council tax. . It would add nothing to democracy. It is John
Prescott's dangerous dream machine and we should vote to stop it in its
tracks.
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