It’s commendable of John Prescott to be concerned about the costs of Mrs Thatcher’s funeral. At a time of national austerity every penny makes a difference. But there a very strong whiff of hypocrisy about his recent pronouncements in the media. Most will remember that Prescott was the champion of the Regional Assembly, and then the Regional Development Agencies.
Prescott had made every effort to introduce a new layer of Government above that of the County Council, but below Parliament. The London Assembly was the first of these new forms of local government. It was never entirely clear what benefits this would provide, except to those officials and representatives who were able to gain sinecures in these new organisations. His great hope was the prospective North East Regional Government, to which he staked much of his authority and reputation, such as it was. But when the project was put to the people in a referendum in 2004 it was resoundingly rejected by 77% of the votes cast.
Of course no Government wants to be bound by the will of the people, and so the failed Regional Assembly programme simply morphed into the Regional Development Agency programmme. The same client based gained a comfortable employment, and were saved the inconvenience of requiring an electoral mandate.
Now if these had all been voluntary organisations there could be no criticism of Prescott’s complaints about the costs of Mrs Thatcher’s funeral. But in fact the Regional Assembly and Development Agency programmes have been a huge expense and most observers consider them to have entirely failed to achieve any value for the tax payer. The Tax Payers Alliance concludes that the various regions performed better in terms of job creation and business growth before the Regional Development Agencies were introduced.
More than that however, it is estimated that the Regional Development Agencies, introduced to soften Prescott’s humiliation, have cost the nation more than £15 billion over the course of their existence. This is about £600 per household. That’s a lot of money to spend to prevent a politician’s dreams being utterly crushed, and to ensure that there were plenty of jobs for the Labour client base.
If we assume that Mrs Thatcher’s funeral cost the nation £10 million, and we are being told it cost much less than that, then we are considering an expenditure of just 40p per household. Is that too much to spend on a Prime Minister, especially one of some significance? If it is too much then surely the wasted expenditure of the Prescott Regional Government programme is of much more objectionable extent, and in such circumstances it is hypocritical of John Prescott to have raised the issue of cost, and a mystery that none of those interviewing him felt moved to ask him about the costs to the nation of his own political career.
Assemblies are an additional cobweb to the minds of the people,an attempt to make us believe they are trying to make things right.All you need to know is they do not want to be told what to do by the people who employ them.They want to be told what to do by the rich and their NWO. They play for time till the people are too late.
“in such circumstances it is hypocritical of John Prescott to have raised the issue of cost,”
Let us be absolutely clear about this; John Prescott is a hypocrite, the whole of his public life has been a pretence, the man is a deceitful buffoon, a phony, of little moral worth, a man of low morals whose opinions should never be taken seriously.
“Let us be absolutely clear about this; John Prescott is a hypocrite, the whole of his public life has been a pretence, the man is a deceitful buffoon, a phony, of little moral worth, a man of low morals whose opinions should never be taken seriously.”
Very,very well said, David.