Virtual Seminar

14th October 2011

Jon Moulton: RDAs achieved nothing

Regional development agencies (RDAs) "might as well have burnt" the funding they received, well-known venture capitalist Jon Moulton has claimed.

Speaking to an audience of Tyneside businesspeople, Moulton claimed that RDAs such as One North East "achieved nothing except giving people a sense of entitlement".

In a speech entitled A Review of the West's Financial System, he said the UK should follow Estonia's lead and slash the public sector, redirecting jobs and investment to revenue-generating manufacturing.

"We are in a hell of a mess," said Moulton. "We are only 50 per cent private sector and we should be standing at 80 per cent. Growth slows when more than 40 per cent of the economy is in the public sector."

He also referred to the government's latest round of quantitative easing as "sticking plasters propping up the absolutely doomed" and said that the UK has "been living too well for too long".

Jackie Ridley, centre manager at Yours Business Networks Gateshead, said: "It was fascinating to hear Mr Moulton explain the extent of the economic crisis, what caused it and, most importantly, what needs to be done to correct it."

Moulton, who is a board member of the government's £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund, is the chairman of Better Capital. He is the former managing partner of private equity firm Alchemy Partners and is best known for leading the firm's failed bid to buy MG Rover from BMW in 2000.