Just a little reminder that the unelected North East Assembly still exists. The piece below was written about eighteen months ago. It is not acceptable to have the unelected bodies continuing to spend public money when the public have rejected the idea of elected bodies.

The North East Assembly needs to disband and the association of North East Councils handed back any control and powers. The monumental wave of public opinion that delivered a serious political message will be a monumental wave of anger should they believe they have been well and truly shafted and deceived. Woe betied any councillor or local authority that continues to support this body. We will name and shame and ensure that they pay a very heavy political price at the next elections.

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The 'Barber of S'EVIL
www.neilherron.co.uk

The comic opera continues in the North East with the Director, Stephen Barber of the North East Assembly again making the headlines, but unfortunately, this time the audience is not laughing. There is no Figaro, just a complicated trail that everyone is trying to ' Figarout,' and the amount of money that is involved in this case, is slightly more than a tenor!The first 'gross distortion' was the fact that the North East Assembly denied that they had misused public money in campaigning for and promoting elected regional government. A complaint was made to the District Auditor who censured the Assembly publicly and they were forced to adopt a neutral stance. The Director gave reassurances to all the subscribing local authorities that he would not step over the line again, as it is the authorities that would have to face, and bear the costs of any legal action. The Chairman of the Assembly quietly resigned at the AGM 'a la Milburnesque', to,'spend more time with family.

The 'second 'lie' manifested itself just the other day and is the start of another duplicitous trail involving more misuse of public money, the self-generating proliferation of bureaucracy disconnected from any accountability by any elected structures and the link into the European Union and its wish to ultimately create a 'Europe of the Regions' with the neutering of the nation state.

As I have previously mentioned, John Prescott has always had a dream that the United Kingdom be divided into twelve regions. (My dreams tend to involve scoring hat tricks in cup finals, hero worship and beautiful women, and winning the lottery, but there must be something wrong with me. Reminds me of the waiter who brought two bottles of champagne to George Best's hotel room. George had had a drink and was lying on the bed with Miss World and surrounded by tens of thousands of pounds from winning at the Casino earlier in the evening. The waiter said, "Mr. Best, where did it all go wrong?")

Back to Prescott's dream. It has always been strenuously denied that there is any connection between the Deputy Pie Minister's vision of the nation's future governance and the European Union's blueprint for a 'Europe of the Regions,' which is a bit like ignoring the elephant in the room. Ongoing research threw up a connection between the shadowy English Regions Network and the European Commission in London, but there were strenuous denials that there had ever been any meetings between the two.Sad as I've become, last Friday night I was trawling through minutes of little ERN's meetings when I found a little golden nugget. The significance of ERN is that it is the body whose remit is to co-ordinate the political strategy of the eight English regions outside London, as they move towards having elected regional assemblies.

The plot thickens as this body appears to have no democratic accountability at all. The problem for Mr. Barber is that the North East Assembly is now the Secretariat of ERN as it operates on a rotating basis. The lead Assembly is responsible for the administrative costs. The ratepayers of the subscribing councils will therefore bear the cost.

So, yet again we are back to square one with my money going to an organisation to attempt to create regional government without my consent, and I am one of many who ain't gonna put up with that.

The golden nugget that I found was the agenda and minutes for a meeting held in the Commission's office on 15 November 2001. This began with lunch given to senior ERN officials by Commission officials, headed by Geoffrey Martin, then the Commission's top man in the UK, followed by a meeting in the Commission conference room until 4pm. It was recorded that ERN had 'agreed an invitation from the EU Commission UK office to hold further meetings at that venue'. Last week the same question was put to the ERN itself, whose affairs, as mentioned,are currently being managed by the North East Regional Assembly, Stephen Barber (former Head of European Operations for Kent County Council). He replied that ERN is seeking a meeting with the EU's regional commissioner Michel Barnier, but he would have to check with other regional assemblies 'what the position is on any previous meetings'. Yet Mr Barber was recorded in the minutes as one of those present in 2001, and he also delivered an address. It seems that he may have selective amnesia which may also be contagious.

The former Chairman of the Assembly, Tony Flynn, who is also Leader of Newcastle Council (he has more positions than the hardback version of the Kama Sutra. Makes you wonder where they actually get time to listen to the electorate) also seems to have ERNnesia. He forgot to declare last year in his Council's register of Member's Interests that he was Deputy Chairman of ERN. Just an oversight of course!

So how deep does this rabbit hole go? How many lies and half-truths have been told to get the gravy train to its current station? How many more connections need to be made before this completely manipulated sham is exposed?

Is it any surprise that ConnectPA, the public affairs consultants who 'advise' ERN is filled with former New Labour advisors who have worked for Patricia Hewitt, Stephen Byers and David Blunkett? Mr. Barber has given an undertaking to all the North East Councils that the North East Assembly will 'insure and indemnify' council members and officials from all costs in relation to any attempted legal action.The indemnity cannot be provided with North East Assembly money as that money belongs to the councils who received it from their ratepayers. You could hardly use ratepayers money to cover court costs in an action brought by ratepayers. That would be a bit like a burglar being found guilty and asking to burgle another house to pay his costs.We wait with bated breath for sight of this insurance policy, and hope it is not underwritten by Hoodwink, Fleeceham and Scarper. I do believe that the noise I can hear from my office window is that of seagulls and not that of a cock crowing before the third denial...but I cannot be sure.As the Government lurches from one crisis to another and the Deputy Prime Minister is left in charge of the country one wonders how this opera will end. As we know it will not be over until the fat lady sings. Perish the thought of Prescott in drag.