Healey accuses Government of 'choking recovery'

WENTWORTH MP John Healey has urged the Government to ensure it invests in the regions after its growth “tsar” admitted that scrapping regional development agencies (RDAs) like Yorkshire Forward was a mistake.

As a former Treasury Minister in the Labour government, Mr Healey was closely involved in setting up RDAs.

This week he hit out at the coalition Government after Lord Heseltine, who the government appointed to chair the oversubscribed Regional Growth Fund, said in a newspaper article that they had made a “mistake” in scrapping them.

Mr Healey said: “This Government is choking off the recovery.

“Growth is slowing and unemployment is rising but all we're seeing is complacency and uncertainty.

“RDAs were scrapped with no effective replacement and no plan for growth.

“We have proved there is huge potential in the regions to drive growth but the government is refusing to invest to help create jobs.”

In his article, Lord Heseltine said that the RDAs had provided a bridge between localities and Whitehall.

Writing in the Times, the peer said that disbanding the agencies was “one of the Government’s mistakes,” saying that the decision “broke up the regional teams that gave Whitehall an overview in a locality.”

Yorkshire Forward supported a number of projects in South Yorkshire including renaissance initiatives in Rotherham and Barnsley, the Advanced Manufacturing Park and improvements to Rotherham Central station.