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Public Bodies Bill [HL]

I will give my noble friend a slight rest. Does he not accept that, not only are the Government apparently out of step with what most people in the north-east think, but their thinking on regionalism is completely out of step with pretty well every other country in Europe of a similar size. It really risks England becoming the most centralised country in the whole of western Europe. While what he says about LEPS and putting the emphasis at a more local level might well be a perfectly acceptable way forward, the real problem is that the LEPs are being deprived of pretty well all the resources which the RDAs and regional bodies have at the moment. Therefore, unless they are lucky enough to get some of this relatively small amount of regional development fund money, they are going to be toothless.