Labour reverses DTI name change

BUSINESS leaders rounded on the Government today after it changed the name of its industry department for the second time in less than a week. The Department of Trade and Industry was renamed the Department for Productivity, Energy and Industry a week ago after Labour won the General Election.

But the minister in charge of the Department, Alan Johnson, has announced that it was reverting to its previous name. He said DPEI had attracted various descriptions, including 'penis and dippy' and that he had not thought of the idea. He said that there had been a view 'somewhere' in Government that a new name was needed to reflect the change from the DTI running monopolised industries in the 1970s.

Critics suggest that the change was merely cosmetic and would have made no real difference to the strategic direction of Government policy. Richard Wilson, head of business policy at the Institute of Directors, said: 'The Government is degenerating into a circus and the clowns have taken charge. A department of state responsible for spending billions of pounds of taxpayers' money has seen its name changed twice within a week.

'Ministers and civil servants should be focusing on threats to business competitiveness, such as the threat to the UK's opt-out from the Working Time Directive, not toying with different names for their department.'

Sir Digby Jones, director-general of the CBI, hailed the renaming U-turn as a 'victory for common sense and for the taxpayer'. He said: 'The department must be, as Alan Johnson has said, 'unremittingly for business'. In today's fiercely competitive global economy, he said, 'we need a department that understands what 21st century business needs from Government, and ensures that the business corner is fought every day at the heart of the cabinet'.

Liberal Democrat trade and industry spokesman Malcolm Bruce said: 'This is an almost comic example of spin Government. Fortunately, Alan Johnson is a sensible minister who can see the difference between spin and substance. This waste of time and money shows the Government know they have a white elephant on their hands and no idea what to do with it.'

The Liberal Democrats argue that the DTI ? famously lampooned by critics as the 'Department for Timidity and Inaction' ? should be scrapped altogether.