West Midlands Select Committee Growing Ever-Smaller
I've written in the past about how the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are boycotting the West Midlands select committee, a House of Commons committee set up to ensure the Government is giving the region a fair deal.
Now it seems even Labour can't get its members on the Committee. The whole thing is rapidly descending into farce, despite the best efforts of the chairman, Birmingham MP Richard Burden (Lab Northfield).
There are supposed to be nine members of the West Midlands committee, which is currently investigating the effects of the recession on the people of the region.
Five of these are meant to be Labour, with three Tories and one Liberal Democrat.
But the Tories won't turn up, because they object to the whole idea of regional government.
The Lib Dems are also boycotting the committee, because they feel it is unfair they only get one member on the regional committee in places such as the south west where they have a lot of MPs (this doesn't really apply to the West Midlands, but local MPs are boycotting it anyway).
Mr Burden attempted to get independent MP Richard Taylor (Ind Wyre Forest) on the committee - but Lib Dems have managed to block this, by objecting to it in the House of Commons.
Now, Labour MP David Kidney (Lab Stafford) has left the committee, because he has got a Government job as an energy minister.
MP Janet Dean (Lab Burton) is meant to be his replacement.
But her appointment has also been blocked by opposition MPs, who appear determined to ensure the committee fails.
So out of nine committee places, only four are currently filled - and even Labour is only taking four of the five seats it is entitled to.
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This committee has actually done a very good job under Richard Burden's chairmanship - it's report on the impact of the recession and creditc runch on west midlands business was hard-hitting and to the point. The Tories and Lib Dems may well have had a point on the allocation of seats on the committee but should have mucked in and got on with it. The Committee is one way of making the RDAs accountable. Of course, the Tories now seem to want to scrap RDAs except for in London - but why should London have one and not the West Midlands?
I agree. In particular, it makes no sense to boycott the bodies holding RDAs accountable while RDAs exist.
In other words, a Tory Government might make the regional committee redundant by abolishing the RDA, but that doesn't mean it's redundant under the present system. It does an important job, it seems to me.