January 25, 2008
What is the point of the regional ministers?
Rosie Winterton, a transport minister, was yesterday awarded the extra title of Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber - replacing Caroline Flint, the new housing minister.
Meanwhile Phil Hope became minister for the East Midlands.
The news served as a reminder that Gordon Brown introduced numerous regional posts when he set up his first cabinet last summer. Others include Ben Bradshaw for the South-west. Are these purely symbolic roles?
The big idea was that there would be a regular Regions Question Time on the Commons floor. This would give more of a voice to those-outside-London after the failure of plans for elected regional assemblies, whose potential genesis was met with apathy in 2004.
But no one seems to have heard anything on this since July.
Um, Ben Bradley? Don’t think the legenday editor of the Washington Post was ever made a UK Minister. You might be thinking of Ben Bradshaw.
Posted by: David Boothroyd | January 27th, 2008 at 8:38 pm | Report this commentWasn’t Rosie a very, very close personal friend of the Mouth of the Humber, John Prescott?
Posted by: mirthios | January 28th, 2008 at 7:13 am | Report this commentThanks David, glad you spotted the deliberate mistake. Duly amended. Jim
Posted by: Jim Pickard | January 28th, 2008 at 10:20 am | Report this commentI’ve lived in “the Humber” for the past 9 years and though I try to keep abreast of political developments as they affect me I must admit I was totally unaware until today that there was such a thing as a “Minister for the Humber” and that the fragrant Miss Flint was “it”. I am now wondering how on earth I’ve managed these past 9 years without troubling Miss Flint to assist me in living my life?
Posted by: Paul M | January 28th, 2008 at 11:35 am | Report this commentIt’s been a covert government policy for a while now. They failed to get it in by democracy in the North-East so they do the usual government trick of stealthily bringing it in a bit at a time. You can see it in statements talking about Wales, Scotland and the “English regions” as loved by the BBC. Labour MP’s such as Ian Lucas representing Wrexham bang on about it a lot too despite it being deeply unpopular with the English as a whole. I personally believe it to be a divide and conquer stratagem by the government to keep the English at each others throats whilst keeping their hands on power in their cosy little Raj.
Posted by: Dave H | January 28th, 2008 at 4:55 pm | Report this comment