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Abolish the RDAs! They bank on again...

Regional development agencies failing to help local enterprise - Telegraph
Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance called for George Osborne, the Chancellor, to use this week’s Budget to abolish them altogether.
He said: "The Regional Development Agencies are hugely wasteful and ineffective, and they should all be abolished."

It seems Mr Elliott has an axe to grind here. His organisation has clearly ignored the last NAO report on the RDAs and the view of the LSE. It is clear that TPA's report is based on the "glass is half empty" philosophy. It is also written with a "sweep-all-with-one-brush" mentality and large doses of insinuations by use of examples, that all RDAs are the same.

Certain RDAs, if not all, produce a draft regional strategy which goes out to public and private bodies for consultation and input. It is also available to general public. Did the TPA ever got itself involved in helping to shape any of the regions via this document?

These pseudo know-it-alls do not actually present a well rounded picture of the situation and certainly only provide half hearted research, to make "informed comments". After decades of neglect, how can only 10 years turn things around for regions outside London. The fact that they are able to improve some aspects and stop the decline is praise enough.

Still when you are in the pockets of the Conservative Party what can you expect? We all know that the Tories have always wanted to abolish the RDAs. However,  after turning up in the North and seeing for themselves the real difference the RDAs have made to the lives of people here, the Lib-Cons released that their view was skewered by misinformation on a large scale and I wonder by whom...


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