the unelected North-East Assembly is set to be scrapped and its powers returned to local authorities. I am assuming that if true this will also sound the death-knell for other similar bodies across England. The rationale appears to be that Gordon Brown is putting new forms of regional accountability in place through the new regional ministers, proposed regional "Question Times" and regional select committees. But wait....the Regional Assemblies are and always have been expendable. They have been part of the 10year NuLab smoke and mirrors pre-Europe give-away, more of the trickery and deceit that we have seen so blatantly coming out of Brussels.   more »

A 'horrifying' number numbers of banks, shops and Government departments are said to be fuelling a £1.7billion a year crime racket by failing to protect people's privacy. They have been caught dumping customers' details in public waste bins or leaving personal information for all to see online.Why is the Information Commissioners Office doing so little about it. Where are the fines, where are the court cases.   more »

The European Information Society Group (Eurim) will formally launch the exercise on 18 July 2007, with a call for evidence and plans to hold three hearings in October and November, after the publication of the next round of Comprehensive Spending Reviews. Margaret Moran MP, the chair of the organisation, told GC News the inquiry is aimed at raising awareness of Transformational Government among MPs and influencing future policy.   more »

Senior European Union officials confirmed yesterday that Britain's "red line" opt-out from the European Charter of Fundamental Rights is not worth the paper it is written on. Margot Wallström, the European Commission Vice-President, insisted that the charter will apply to huge swathes of British law, the 75 per cent or more that is derived from EU legislation. "There is 30 years of EU jurisprudence to say there can be no two-tier system of European rights."   more »

The European Commission has now published its final version of a document titled: COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION, Reforming Europe for the 21st Century. ‘Opinion of the European Commission, pursuant to Article 48 of the Treaty on European Union, on the Conference of representatives of the governments of the Member States convened to revise the Treaties’ You can link to the 8 page document here   more »