Regions of the damned

Whether we like it or not, says Leo McKinstry, regional government is already here – and it is expensive, absurd and undemocratic

Expanding bureaucracy is the hallmark of the government. Since the 1997 election, there has been a deluge of expensive new bodies, from the Scottish Parliament to the General Teaching Council. Thanks to Labour, Britain is awash with publicly funded apparatchiks and well-heeled paper-shufflers. We are drowning in action plans, strategy documents, task forces, co-ordination units, forums, commissions, programmes, tsars and mayors.

But perhaps the most wasteful, offensive – and ultimately sinister – aspect of Labour’s mania for organisational growth appears not at Westminster, but at a regional level. Over the past six years, without any approval or support from the public, the government has quietly created a vast network of regional agencies and assemblies. Not only has the creation of a new tier of regional administration proved another heavy burden on the taxpayer, but it has also meant more red tape, interference with business and the duplication of the work of other public bodies.