Reform: Foster

Halting the "quango culture" will be vital if regional government is to work, the Liberal Democrats have said.

Launching the latest stage of the party's policy review - this time focusing on government away from Whitehall - the party's local government and the regions spokesman, Don Foster, said the current arrangements were unaccountable and expensive.

He unveiled proposals to make the regional bodies set up by the government directly elected and called for the reorganisation of local government.

Foster argues the multiplying number of bodies, such as regional development agencies and government offices, mean increasingly there is less accountability and more confusion.

The Lib Dems see the three main problems of regional government as there being too much of it, failing to act in a "joined up" way and answering to London and not local people. Labour has created an array of quangos, boards, zones, trusts and authorities, each with its own bureaucracy, says the party.

"Regional governance in England is confused, expensive and unresponsive to the people it is meant to serve. A complicated web of often unaccountable bodies make decisions in which local people currently have no say," Foster said.

He described the regions as currently being little more than colonies of Whitehall.

"Liberal Democrats want to cut through the jungle of regional governance and end the quango culture. Under our plans, better regional government through directly elected regional authorities will mean less bureaucracy and cost. Regional government will become more accountable to its electorate."

Foster's paper, "Empowering the People", will be put to delegates at the Liberal Democrat's spring conference in Manchester. He believes the party will back his belief that regional governments are best placed to decide what works for their areas.

He points to the widening gap between London and the regions and the fact that areas such as the North East and North West have specific needs that are different to other regions of England.

Foster called for a review by the Electoral Commission to finalise the boundaries for the regional authorities and for a Regional Powers Act, which would enable each region to progress at its own pace.

"Before regional government can be set up, the issue of boundaries needs to be resolved. But this must not delay the implementation of regional government. I am therefore calling for a one off, time-limited review by the Electoral Commission of boundaries and the claims of smaller areas who wish to be considered for regional government."

Foster repeated party leader Charles Kennedy's claim that devolving power away from Whitehall will be key in ending the electorate's apathy with politics.

"Regional government must be elected, efficient and effective. That is one of the keys to reconnecting people with politics," he said.