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Responding to the Downturn and Planning the Future Economy

I remind the Committee that we used to have a West Yorkshire metropolitan county council. It was not a regional body, but it covered the whole of west Yorkshire—five district councils. It did some of the work that has now been taken on by the regional development organisation. Unfortunately, politically, it was not to the liking of the Government at that time—Mrs. Thatcher’s—and therefore she dismissed it, completely getting rid of that extra tier of democracy.