Top Tory says jobs agencies were valuable
A SENIOR Conservative has criticised the Government’s decision to scrap the regional development agency One North East.
Former deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine has spoken out against the coalition’s decision last year to scrap agencies which poured millions of pounds into the renewable energy sector and helped attract major firms such as Clipper to the region.
Lord Heseltine, who chairs the regional growth fund selection panel set up to reduce the impact of scrapping the agencies, has said Government departments are having to create locally-empowered bodies to fill the void left as a result of earlier decisions. Writing in a piece outlining the impact of inner-city riots, Lord Heseltine made the case for localism.
He added: "Greg Clark has been appointed Minister for the Cities and is addressing one of the Government’s mistakes – the disbanding of regional development agencies also broke up the regional teams that gave Whitehall an overview in a locality. Instead each government department has recreated its individual empire in the regions."
Newcastle Central MP Chi Onwurah said Lord Heseltine’s comments, together with the blow to the wind industry, showed why the region needed a dedicated advocate.
"What’s happened demonstrates yet again why we need a strong regional voice promoting investment and innovation in the North East," she said. "Heseltine today admitted that abolishing the RDAs was a mistake. When is the Government going to do something to rectify it?"
Ms Onwurah, a shadow business minister, added: "Supporting innovation in renewable energy should be a key part of any growth strategy. I hope the minister will explain how the £5m set aside for this investment will be used to support renewable energy in the North East, and not clawed back by central Government."
Earlier this year chairman of development agency One North East Paul Callaghan warned the Government efforts to create a wind sector in the region could be undermined by a lack of incentives on offer following the decision to scrap the agency.
He set out how investment which should have come to the region had headed to Scotland and Europe because they could offer more help to major firms.
Speaking to The Journal, he said: "We are not as home and dry in offshore manufacturing as I would like to be."
