Mebyon Kernow has welcomed the Government announcement that unelected regional assemblies are to be abolished by 2010. But this good news has been well and truly damaged with the Government’s insistence that the Assembly's ‘responsibilities’ will be passed over to the Regional Development Agency.
What is the point in doing away with one unelected and unaccountable quango, only for another unelected and equally unaccountable quango to take over its role! Where is the democracy in this?
If Gordon Brown is serious about putting trust back into the political system, he needs to devolve decision-making on things such as housing, economic development, planning and the environment to democratically elected politicians that are truly accountable to their local areas. In Cornwall’s case, that means working with local people to create a Cornish Assembly and Cornish Development Agency.”
I was curious to hear that the government planned to give more power to local authorities as a result of the abolition of the Assembly. "Surely they're not doing something right?" I thought. Then I heard that the power being devolved was power to do what central government told them to do, and the status quo in my beleagured brain was restored!
ReplyDeleteRDAs are more likely to be accountable to local authorities so this could be a step in the right direction.
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