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'Asked how he believed the principle of “the commissioner decides” could work within the regulations as they stand, Mr McCarthy said: “I’m not a lawyer, but I know that ‘the commissioner decides’ is completely consistent with ministers’ statements previously… this is Monitor signing up to that as well."'

Interesting. Asked if the regulations were consistent with ministerial promises, Monitor actually answer a different question, which is that Monitor promises are consistent with ministerial promises...

Which is not the point. What matters is what the regulations say, and if they are consistent with ministerial promises. The answer to the latter seems pretty clearly, no.

As for the suggestion by some that this has to be cleared up by 1 April - why? It is inconsistent for the government to argue, as it has, that a) these regulations change little and b) they are urgent. The government should go back to the drawing board and come up with something better, and in the mean time let the CCGs get on with the job they were promised to do. The idea that if there aren't regs, CCGs will be left 'exposed to the judicial process' isn't terribly convincing, as no private company has ever used the judicial process in this way. Rather, these regs give those companies an easy and less politically embarassing alternative - and cow and confuse CCGs to the extent that they'll almost certainly just play safe and invite competition in anywhere the private sector might want it to.