Britannia Radio

Francis Maude to abolish nearly 200 quangos today

"Nearly 200 public sector bodies are set to be axed in a “bonfire of the quangos”, ministers will announce. However they are expected to say that the move will save only a few hundred millions of pounds. Instead, Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, is expected to stress that the move will make the public bodies more “transparent and accountable” in a Commons statement this morning." -

Daily Telegraph

"Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, said: "Cutting these bodies will worsen public accountability and will have a huge impact regionally, economically and socially." -

The Guardian

"Britain’s competition regime is to be revamped in a shake-up under which the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission will merge. The restructuring of the competition bodies, to reduce costs and speed up investigations, will probably be one of the most contentious cuts to public bodies to be announced on Thursday in the government’s “bonfire of the quangos”. -

FT (£)

"There will be few tears shed today when Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude sets alight his long-promised bonfire of the quangos... The cull seems far less draconian, however, when we learn that more than 400 are expected to survive unscathed." -

Daily Mail editorial