by political editor Paul Francis

A regional quango charged with bringing jobs and business to Kent and the south east would be scrapped under a future Conservative government.

Shadow business secretary Ken Clarke has told party MPs the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) would be replaced by local enterprise partnerships, based around council boundaries.

In a letter sent last week to MPs, Mr Clarke and his colleague Caroline Spelman, the shadow local government minister, said the RDAs are the "remains of John Prescott's failed experiment of regional government".

Instead, the letter spelt out plans for different arrangements under which councils and businesses will be able to propose local partnerships which "reflect natural economic areas" with businesses given the dominant voice.

It said: "We need organisations involved in delivering economic growth to be at their most efficient and entirely focused on helping businesses, creating jobs and delivering re-generation."

RDAs were set up in 1999 but have faced criticism they cover artificial regions serving disparate areas with markedly different challenges.

In total, SEEDA covers the administrative boundaries of 74 different councils.

However, the quango said it helped create 8,000 jobs last year and helped 17,000 people into work.

It also claimed that for every pound it spends, £5.60 is invested in the region.

The Tory pledge to abolish the jobs quango was attacked by minister for the south east and Kent MP Jonathan Shaw.

He said it could jeopardise the potential for investment in Kent and spark a turf war among the region's councils.

Mr Shaw added: "It would be a huge folly. This is going to seriously damage the south east and Kent at a time when the competition for jobs is getting more intense.

"Partnerships based on council boundaries would be even more artificial lin terms of business investment."