GORDON Brown’s flagship plans to give Yorkshire a stronger voice in Parliament were in chaos after a boycott by opposition parties.
The Tories and Liberal Democrats are both refusing to sit on House of Commons committees which the Government is setting up for each English region, leaving just five Labour MPs – and a raft of ministerial aides – in each area holding public officials and even Government departments to account.
The committees were supposed to scrutinise the activities of costly quangos such as the regional development agencies and Whitehall policies but were branded a "complete waste of time" and a "pointless layer of bureaucracy" by the Tories. The Lib Dems accused Ministers of making "a pig’s ear" of the scheme.
It leaves the prospect of four seats on the committee remaining empty, making a farce of the whole scheme which is estimated to cost £1.4m a year.
Both opposition parties are understood to have written to Government chief whip Nick Brown last week to inform him of their boycott, with the Tories angry the committees were forced through by Commons leader Harriet Harman, while the Lib Dems are unhappy that Labour will have a majority on each committee, even though in areas such as the South West other parties have more MPs.
Shadow Leader of the House Alan Duncan said: "These new select committees are just a fig leaf to conceal the Government’s embarrassment over the undemocratic and unaccountable regional quangos that they have established over the last 10 years. But people have overwhelmingly rejected strengthening regional government – so it’s a complete waste of time to start scrutinising an apparatus that has already collapsed.
"Far from being agreed by all parties, these committees were set up only after Harriet Harman forced it through a cross-party committee. Without either Conservative or Liberal Democrat support, they will be nothing more than a talking shop for Labour MPs."
The plan to set up a select committee for each region was unveiled by Mr Brown in summer 2007 as part of the package which saw Regional Ministers introduced. It was heralded as a way of giving regions like Yorkshire a bigger say, as well as holding big-spending quangos to account.
Supporters point to the select committees having extensive powers to summon witnesses and issue reports. A less powerful grand committee which all MPs from the region could sit on would also meet twice a year.
But critics argue they would be bureaucratic, overlap with departmental committees, put extra pressure on MPs and be costly at an estimated £1.4m a year to run.
Ms Harman had to use her casting vote to force through the plans. Now Labour has put forward it nominations for each of the committees which the Commons will discuss tonight, while the Tories and Lib Dems have simply refused to put forward any names.
Wakefield MP Mary Creagh, a parliamentary aide to Culture Secretary Andy Burnham, is in line to sit on the Yorkshire committee along with Sheffield Attercliffe MP Clive Betts, Brigg and Goole MP and Labour vice-chairman Ian Cawsey, Barnsley Central’s Eric Illsley and Cleethorpes MP Shona McIsaac.
Liberal Democrat Commons spokesman David Heath said: "As usual, the Government has taken a good idea and made a pig’s ear of it."
But Mr Betts, who is tipped to chair the Yorkshire committee, said: "I find it a little bit sad. I think the reality is that whatever changes a future Government may wish to promise, the reality is we have regional bodies that have quite a lot of responsibilities and power and we don’t scrutinise them enough."
By Jonathan Reed Political Editor
Source Yorkshire Post 3rd March 2009
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