Businesses “deserve better” than the new Regional Growth Strategy
Tomorrow night sees the deadline for the first round of bidding to the new Regional Growth Fund, writes Kevin Meagher.
LEPs
Heseltine adds to confusion over Local Enterprise Partnerships
Kevin Meagher examines the confusion over the funding behind local enterprise partnerships amidst further ambiguities in the coalition’s regional policy. Business leaders have criticised the rush to switch from regional development agencies to LEPs.
Cable: Drive for Local Enterprise Partnerships “Maoist and chaotic”
In what are becoming frequent bursts of candour about the government’s deeply-flawed regional policy, business secretary Vince Cable told the annual dinner of Birmingham’s Lunar Society that his plans to scrap regional development agencies and replace them with local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) have been “a little Maoist and chaotic”.
Minister: Local Enterprise Partnerships lack “a clear focus” on growth
In a searing critique of government policy, business minister Mark Prisk has written to his boss, Vince Cable, warning that the introduction of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) across England to replace the eight regional development agencies has generated “considerable friction” from the business community, running the risk that they “become detached from this policy heralding likely failure [of LEPs] in large parts of England”.
Cable’s folly conceals 80 per cent funding cut to regions
This afternoon the government confirmed the first trickle of successful Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), the bodies designed to replace the eight regional development agencies in England.