Tuesday 11 September 2012

REGIONAL GROWTH FUND FAILS


The UK government launched, in April 2011, a £1.4 billion growth fund for  unemployment black spots, particularly those which were left heavily reliant on public service employment by Mrs Thatcher's mass destruction of industry (and jobs) in the 1980s.

So far the scheme has created £2,400 jobs and maintained a further 2,762. 

And the Public Accounts Committee heard yesterday that it has cost a total of £200,000 to create a job under the scheme.

What the hell are they doing? If they'd given that money to me I could have had half of unemployed Scotland working, regenerating the run down infrastructural, creating wealth by paying people, and therefore creating demand for other people's services and products...

But no, the money has been left in banks' and in local councils'  accounts, doing nothing, except I'm sure, earning interest for these organisations.


Clegg predicted that the private sector would stump up £6 for every £1 provided from the Regional Growth Fund from the public purse. He estimated that more than 325,000 jobs would be created or protected.

But the scheme has got off to a sluggish start with just £60m reaching the front line so far and another £470m "parked" in other bodies. Only one-third of offers of funding have been finalised.

Why is it, when the rest of us have targets for every damned thing we do, that Michael Heseltine can fall so short of HIS targets and still be in a job, paid or not? 

29 comments:

  1. It's all shite.
    Campbell is obviously squeezing out an all-bran one, whilst Heseltine has just remembered that he has forgotten to wear underpants after a night on the Guinness.
    Quantitive squeezing simply results in the same pants getting filled.

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  2. I think it's Cleggie rather than Campbell Mr jute. Although they're all interchangeable :)
    I'm not sure if job creation schemes ever work. It just means having to tax the private sector more and more to cover the costs. Eventually the private sector is wiped out due to higher and higher taxes and there's no one left to squeeze for money to pay for everything. Oops.
    I think that's where we are now with the printing presses rolling and our borrowing rising despite a £4trillion debt still needing paid. Double Ooops.

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  3. My mistake. Clegg and Campbell look very similar when the shite starts flowing.

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  4. OT but remember the wee conflab about the comment closed Better Nation after tris and myself posted invisible replies to Jeff support of Osborne on removing payments to the sick and disabled?

    Still closed, but a new comment has appeared, supporting Jeff. The ones against him are still invisible

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  5. I posted a comment there about instead of doffing caps, certain folk should be choked by them.
    It never appeared.

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  6. I think some blogs, even though they support independence, are positioning themselves along old left and right lines.
    The 'right' leaning blogs are getting heavy on the censorship.

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  7. Establishment revolving door syndrome keeping the money flowing around at the top hoping some trickles down, its in the government policy small print.

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  8. Ha ha... Yes guys, it is Cleggy... But you're right Juteman; he looks a bit like Campbell.

    I can see a purpose to spending money, if it is preparing the country for the inevitable upturn. Building decent communications, road, rail and internet using the private sector to do the work.

    But from what I read they had released all this money and it's sitting in banks...

    It's mad.

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  9. Ho ho ho Anon... that's brilliant. Comments are closed, except those that agree with me! nah nah nah nah nah.

    Bless him, he's a wee beauty!

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  10. I think, if you want to be published across there Juteman, you are going to have to be pretty much in agreement with Jeff

    But, we shouldn't be like this, me included. At the moment we should be working together for our whole future. We can worry about lefts and right, greens and centres once we are independent.


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  11. The trouble CH, is that they rely on trickle down as a theory, but in fact, unless you work very hard to make it, it doesn't trickle down very far.

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  12. I'd just like to say how wonderful tris is the wisdom and political nous
    he shows is a testament to the finest in civic Scotland...
    A truly fair minded warm hearted democratic Scot.

    That should get through the Knobheads comment firewall

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  13. I know John, CH. He was MP here and we met quite often in the Hilltown when I was doing jobshops and he was doing surgeries. He's not a bad bloke and he's finally become a nationalist! Bravo to him.

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  14. ha ha ha Niko... Yes undoubtedly would have...except the last bit may have somewhat taken the edge off it... so I've put it in the badboys' bin, and you are on the naughty step...KK?

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  15. I see someone has taken that down CH... But there is still a heading page... Alex Salmond is a deluded w***er

    Keep up that standard Blether Together. You're not showing a very nice side of yourselves.

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  16. Check your parental controls tris as it is still all there in its racist glory even having an alleged quote from Billy Connoly!

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  17. This Independence thing is catching aint it?

    Don't worry C.H. BBC will suffer the Nelson vision disorder when/if they come across this.

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  18. Meant to ask in my last post if the picture of Clegg was taken just after he found out who was LEADING the Better Together crowd?

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  19. Are we surprised by this. The Liberals can't tell the truth or are blind to what the Torries are up to. Either way nothing surprises me now.

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  20. Got it now CH.

    Pathetic. I'm certainly not one of those who thinks Alex Salmond is invincible, but he's our best hope at getting our country back.

    I note too that the ever-fragrant Tom Harris appears in a post. And as you say, good old Billy Connelly, whose biggest claim to fame is that he can get as many swear words in a sentence as Malcolm Tucker... Of course the difference is that at the end of it Malcolm Tucker has said something funny, whereas Billy Connelly has just said a string of swear words, and talked about using the bathroom. Hilarious if you're 8.

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  21. CH: I'm sure they will only comment to point out that the YES campaign didn't manage to get 2 million people marching in Edinburgh. The BBC's figure will doubtless be 200...but as that's probably as far as they can count, we should probably dismiss it.

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  22. It's one very reasonable suggestion Arbroath!!

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  23. Hey Bruce...

    You're probably right. I despair of them.

    The Tories must have some hard men somewhere, because, in my opinion, Clegg is far cleverer than Cameron (not hard), and I can't think of anyone in the Tory team that is very bright, so how they are managing to put one over so often on the Liberals is defeating me.

    You're right about them not being able to tell teh truth though. They seem to have sold their souls for a few Cabinet seats.

    I can't help but think that if they had agreed to help out the Tories on a confidence and supply basis, they could have had a real influence on government, got some of their policies through, blocked any policy that they didn't like, and stopped the need for a second general election.

    And they could have kept their integrity intact.

    Now they are finished. In Scotland (where their only fault was to fail to criticise the English leadership) more than 2/3 of their MSPs have disappeared and they lost heavily in local elections.

    I imagine at the next UK election they will have single figures. What is the point of voting Liberal if they are going to get with one of the bigger parties and enable the policies we have seen... policies which are not only cruel, but ineffective!

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  24. Talking, as we have been, of moderation policy, I received this missive from Caron Lindsay at Liberal Democrat Voice.

    Tris,

    There is no way I can publish your comment on Liberal Democrat Voice as thephrase “incompetent morons” is way over the line as far as our comments policy is concerned.

    You can read the policy here. http://www.libdemvoice.org/comment-policy

    You are welcome to revise and resubmit without such language.

    Regards

    Such language???????

    I suggested the following:

    But they are incompetent morons. However, I suppose, if it pleases you, you can change it to "brilliant, but sometimes a little unfortunate with their choice of policy, and their implementation thereof!".

    Eggshells and treading on...or what!?!



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  25. You're favoured tris mine went of into outer space I see a new media station has gone online.

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