A new quango has been set up every week since Labour took office, it has emerged.
Analysis of the Government’s record by the Daily Mail has found 25 such arms-length bodies, task forces and advisory councils since the election.
The revelations will raise fears that extra red tape will further dampen economic growth, which has already ground to a halt since Labour was elected and £40 billion of tax rises were announced in the Budget.
It comes after it emerged last month that ministers had ordered 67 reviews and consultations in Labour’s first five months in office.
Richard Holden, the former chairman of the Conservative Party, told the newspaper: “It’s a tale as old as time. Labour establishes a quango to duplicate work already under way in the public sector and the outcome is all-too predictable: more bureaucracy, more regulation and higher taxes for working Brits.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, said: “We need a great cull of quangos. In government I was trying to close them down because we need to return decision-making to elected ministers.
“Instead, Labour seem bent on giving us government by the quango, for the quango… They want government done by their friends and they want it done away from prying eyes by organisations that are simply not accountable in the same way as elected ministers. It is not only anti-democratic but it also leads to worse government.”
Four new quangos have been created by Ed Milliband as he seeks to push through plans to decarbonise the electricity system by 2030.
Labour said in its manifesto that it would set up Great British Energy, which was billed as a state-run energy company, and it was announced that it would be set up the day after the election.
He has since set up Mission Control, which he said would help him devise and deliver the Government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, a new National Energy System Operator and the Solar Taskforce.
ADVERTISEMENT
The newspaper said many of the new bodies perform similar functions to their predecessors.
It said the Government’s flagship Border Security Command, established just days after the election, has broadly similar functions to the former Small Boats Operational Command while the new Regulatory Innovation Office seems very similar to the Regulatory Horizons Council.
Meanwhile the Jet Zero Taskforce, set up in November by former transport secretary Louise Haigh, appeared to perform the same functions as the existing Jet Zero Council, which advised on the development of sustainable aviation fuel.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Taxpayers will wonder who actually governs Britain given the proliferation of unelected, unaccountable quangos.
“But what’s worse is that these have all been created by politicians who then recoil with horror when they realise that they are completely powerless in the face of this web of organisations, rules and procedures.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Labour ministers should stop creating a rod for their own back by further handing over power to those that may end up working against them.”
No 10 was contacted for comment by The Telegraph.
The Prime Minister defended the Government’s use of reviews and consultations earlier this month and said: “Like any business organisation, you’ve got to understand what you’re dealing with once you’re in a position to deal with it.”
EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel
