"Ministers are poised to bail out Scottish Enterprise, the jobs quango, but will attach stringent conditions to the cash. Nicol Stephen, the Liberal Democrat enterprise minister, will today make a statement to parliament about the agency. By approving funding for too many projects, the agency went £30m over budget in 2005-06 and is set to overspend by £40m in the coming financial year. The crisis forced it to cut money for a large number of projects, alarming MSPs about possible job losses in their constituencies. Mr Stephen is expected to signal that the Scottish Executive is willing to give the agency more money to help it cope with its budget crisis."So much for all the tough talking (see here) of only yesterday. What happened to the 'pretty bloody firm hand on the tiller'?
Allowing themselves to be so easily outmanoeuvred in this way is sheer incompetence on the part of Ministers. And it doesn't say much for their officials.
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