³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

Coalition, cuts and controversy.

That's been a large part of the story of David Cameron's first 100 days as Prime Minister.

But what impact has Britain's first coalition for 65 years had on the North since May 11?

For a start, it has begun the process of removing the concept of "the region" from government.

First to go were Regional Spatial Strategies - the blueprints that dictated where houses and industry would be sited.

The regional offices in the North East, Yorkshire and North West are also going to be abolished.

And Regional Development Agencies are going, to be replaced by local enterprise partnerships.

During the election, it looked like the North East could have had a partnership embracing the whole region as a successor to One North East.

But Tees Valley now wants its own partnership, and the Government has made it clear that it isn't keen on any regional bodies surviving.

There may be more fracturing yet too as attempts to bring Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham together in one grouping don't look guaranteed to succeed.

Whatever the future is, it's not regional.

Then there's the impact on public spending.

The Building Schools for the Future programme was cancelled with immediate effect.

Head teachers throughout the North who'd been investing in plans, and delaying repair work have found their hopes of new buildings dashed for now.

The Government has promised to come up with another method of investing in school buildings but so far we don't know what it is.

And then .

The new building was one of a number of projects the Coalition said could not be afforded.

, but public support for the site was mixed.

.

But our police forces took an immediate hit with millions cut from their budgets.

Job losses in the public sector have also started.

- their departures caused by the Coalition's decision to scrap ID cards.

But this week we have also been told of plans to make more than 500 staff in the North East's NHS redundant.

The administrative staff are going from the regional health authority and eight Primary Care Trusts.

The Future Jobs Fund is also being stopped, and housing benefit cuts are in the offing.

All this does sound a bit grim, but then the Government argues that all this is necessary to set the country and the region on the path to a brighter future.

It's not yet clear though just when and how new private sector jobs will be created to mop up people leaving the public sector.

And of course, even though there have been a bewildering array of announcements over the last 100 days, we are still in the early stages of this Government.

October brings the Comprehensive Spending Review, and more details on the cuts to come. Local authorities and all public sector organisations are likely to feel the pain.

But we may also yet see investment. A decision on funding for the dualling of the A1 may come in the autumn.

And then there are the political implications for the parties in the region.

Recent polls suggest Liberal Democrat support is haemorrhaging - ! Others have put them at around 16%.

There are important local elections next year, and the chances of the Lib Dems holding onto their control of Newcastle are slim if the current polling is reflected in local opinion.

The Conservatives will also want to build on the slow but steady progress they'd made in Sunderland and North Tyneside before May 2010, so will await the verdict of voters nervously.

And Labour need to find ways of reviving their support. Yes, they still hold the vast majority of seats in the region, but their share of the vote was the lowest since the Second World War in the North East.

It's possible the party's new leader will be the South Shields MP. If that's the case David Miliband will have to think of ways of reviving his party as well as mounting a credible opposition to the Government.

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Newsvine |
• |
• Reddit
• - What's this?