Quango Cull

Following the earlier post on the above topic the Telegraph has published a list of those being culled,; those being merged; those being saved and those over whom the Sword of Damocles still hangs. Douglas Carswell has weighed into the fray with this post in which he takes his usual 'accountability' line - not that that is wrong of course. However it is disappointing to see our leading Eurosceptic omitting the point made in the earlier post on this blog - that the EU bodies for most of them already exist. Tsk, Tsk, Douglas - shame on you.

As an example, consider one of those to be culled - the UK Film Council, who put out this statement:

"Abolishing the most successful film support organisation the UK has ever had is a bad decision, imposed without any consultation or evaluation. People will rightly look back on today's announcement and say it was a big mistake, driven by short-term thinking and political expediency." (my emphasis)

But then of course we have the European Regional Development Fund and EU MEDIA programme which initially posts on the assistance to be offered to European cinemas to 'go digital', but ends with this:

"The MEDIA programme will contribute €755 million to support Europe's film industry from 2007-2013. The funding helps improve the distribution and promotion of European films and strengthen the competitiveness of the sector.The new MEDIA Production Guarantee Fund will provide €8 million in loan guarantees in 2010-13 to support and facilitate access to finance for European film companies......"

so who needs the UK Film Council?

Political Expediency indeed!