No respect between rival ministries

The office of deputy prime minister John Prescott refused a Home
Office request to hand over £50m to fund antisocial behaviour
work led by controversial “Respect” tsar Louise Casey, according to
a memo leaked this week.

In the memo, Home Office minister Hazel Blears indicated that she
had an agreement with communities minister David Miliband to take
the money from Prescott’s £1.1bn neighbourhood renewal fund,
but that this had been vetoed.

Blears wrote: “This is extremely disappointing and I believe it
will hamper the cross-government Respect agenda and will cause
considerable problems in bringing about the rapid and effective
change we are looking for in those deprived areas.”