Political

The puzzle about the Heseltine growth review is…

… that what Michael Heseltine has said today is the same as he’s been consistently saying since the 1980s.

Its contents may be good or may be bad*, depending on your point of view, but the one thing they most certainly are not is surprising. They are exactly what you would have expected a Heseltine report to say.

Yet the Conservatives in government seem very unkeen on his recommendations. So why did they want him to do a report in the first place if they’re not welcoming the sorts of recommendations that were inevitable once the invitation was sent to him?

 

* There’s quite a lot I like in the report, but also some dreadful parts – such as the idea that the way the government should respond to so many places voting against having directly elected Mayors is to go round imposting them instead.

One response to “The puzzle about the Heseltine growth review is…”

  1. Imposing elected mayors on cities that vote against them. That is some vision of democracy and casts doubt on Heseltine's other recommendations.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All comments and data you submit with them will be handled in line with the privacy and moderation policies.