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JOHN PRESCOTT: Aboard the Labour Party's Yes Express – "People want to be prosperous; giving them a greater say will help that."

YES or NO
Voters finally get their say this week on a regional assembly for the North East: today both sides outline their arguments.

SO are you a Yes or No voter?After nearly three years of debate on the pros and cons of the North East getting its own elected regional assembly, voters finally get their say on it this week with the delivery of the ballot packs.

Yes and No campaigns have been at each others throats for what seems like an age and, by midnight, on Thursday, November 4, we'll all know what YOU the public want to see.If there's a Yes vote then an assembly could be and up running within the next two years.If there's a No vote, well, you won't be asked again for at least seven years and, as the region where assembly support has probably been strongest, the whole move to regionalism in England will have to undergo a major re-think.

Local government reporter JEREMY WICKING reports.

YES
SITTING on his battle bus travelling up to Durham, John Prescott was, perhaps not surprisingly, in a combative mood when the Echo met him.He had replaced his suit jacket with a black woollen casual jacket and, after thanking the voters of Hartlepool for supporting Labour, a thanks that was made without a microphone, he was soothing his throat taking frequent sips from a bottle of mineral water.

Mr Prescott was on his way to Durham to officially launch the Labour Party's Yes campaign.If there was ever a Yes man for the referendum vote then it has to be Mr Prescott.He has pushed for regional government since Labour's historic victory in 1997 and there's no end to his enthusiasm for a Yes vote.Mr Prescott confesses that he was in a difficult position when the Government started its Your Say information campaign in June.He said: "Before the launch of the Labour Yes campaign I was a thumbs-up and a thumbs-down man for the information campaign, now I'm thumbs-up all the way. It's a relief."The drive to a regional government referendum, though, has not been without its hiccups, especially when votes for the other two northern regions were dramatically postponed in July.Mr Prescott said the move, which did upset him, was now an opportunity for the North East to lead the way for the North of England."Once there's a Yes vote in the North East, we can get one in Yorkshire and Humberside," said Mr Prescott.A lot of people in the North East, he says, have still to make their minds up on whether they should vote Yes or No which is why the Labour Party and he, personally, had gone on the campaign trail.

Looking at his opponents, Mr Prescott paid tribute to Sunderland's Neil Herron, who seemed to "pop up everywhere", and the Deputy Prime Minister believed the new North East Says No group was a front for the Conservative Party.

Not surprisingly, given the lie of the land in politics across much of the North East, he hopes this will catch-on with Labour's core vote.On why there should be a Yes vote, the Deputy Prime Minister is clear, very clear: "People want to be prosperous and giving them a greater say on public services through an assembly will help that."Mr Prescott said that for a long-time the North East has lagged behind the rest of the country whether it was through poorer health, its standard of living, a lack of business investment or poor infrastructure.

This was not, however, an indication that a Labour Government had failed the region.Mr Prescott said: "All Governments have been unable to reduce the differentials between and the North East and the rest of the country."Giving the people of the North East the tools (through an assembly) means they can get on with the job. If they don't like it then they can vote No."Countering the No arguments that an assembly would want to find itself a new home, and an expensive one as Scottish voters have found to their cost, Mr Prescott said no new building was needed for an assembly's favoured home in Durham.Sensitive to the charges of cost, the Yes campaign has said there are three buildings where it could be housed in Durham.

They are:
* The former National Savings building on Milburngate by the riverside in Durham;
* Byland Lodge, the current home of Durham City Council;
* County Hall, the current home of Durham County Council.

Mr Prescott trusted the people of the North East to take on the assembly job and said: "If people are satisfied with the past, then fine, but the assembly is a chance to remove obstacles."Those obstacles being that too many decisions taken about the North East were not made in the region and were undemocratic as they came from civil servants,An assembly, according to the Draft Regional Assemblies Bill that was published in July, would have a string of powers currently in the hands of what are often known as Quangos (Quasi Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisations), such as economic development body One NorthEast, or rest with civil servants.Those assembly powers would include budgets for economic development, housing, culture and tourism, and planning powers in transport, health and the environment, though No campaigners say it is not enough.

Up to a £1billion could come under the control of any assembly, "a lot of money" says Mr Prescott, who is convinced the North East will go for a Yes vote.If it doesn't, then it will be a major blow to not only Mr Prescott but regionalists in and outside of Government.

THE official Yes campaign – Yes4theNorthEast – has celebrity endorsements from ex-Newcastle United chairman, businessman and Metro Centre creator Sir John Hall, plus athletics icon and commentator Brendan Foster.Teesside's "Robo-cop" and Middlesbrough mayor Ray Mallon recently backed an assembly too.

Their key message is that a Yes vote would loosen the region from civil servants in Whitehall and this would help boost investment into the region, create jobs and close the gap between the North East and the other regions of the county, especially the South East. In its most basic terms then the Yes argument is that "we'll all be better off" if more decisions about the region are made by people in the North East.The Durham-based Yes campaign has been officially backed by the Labour Party and counts support from trades unions, Liberal Democrats and been funded by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, Unison, the GMB and the Campaign for the English Regions.It is chaired by Professor John Tomaney who said the referendum is a "historic chance" for North Easterners to make their voices heard."For too long we have had key decisions about the North East made in London by people who have no idea about what is best for our region," said Professor Tomaney.

NO
JOHN ELLIOTT:
Vote "No" to a regional assembly. It's a white elephant.DURHAM is home to the official No group as well as the Yes campaign and any future assembly.

Chairman of North East Says No is County Durham businessman John Elliott.He said: "We all know the North East has its problems but this assembly will do nothing to sort them out. The key problem is that this assembly does not have the powers to do any good, with no real powers to improve public services or to create jobs for ordinary people."The campaign believes it would cost not £25million a year to run but more like £65million, a claim dismissed by the Yes campaign. who believe that with a shake-up of local government in Northumberland and Durham it will be "cost neutral".

Highlighting the cost, NESNO decided to burn £1.25million in fake notes, the money it says would be wasted every week in running an assembly that to them would have no real power.Mr Elliott said: "Because an assembly would not have the powers to benefit the lives of ordinary people, the money being spent might just as well be burned.He said: "The Government promises that we're only going to be paying £25million a year for the assembly but whenever they've made these promises before they've always been catastrophically wrong."On their past record it's far more likely that an assembly would cost £65million a year or £1.25million a week and it will be us that pays through higher council tax."The group has been open about some of its backing, which includes Conservatives and the United Kingdom Independence Party, but says it is a wider coalition that includes businesses, teachers and farmers, plus ordinary members of the public who have signed up to it.An assembly, says NESNO, would not have any strong powers, especially on transport, law and order and health.This, to NESNO, is more proof that an assembly would simply create more politicians and live up to its campaign slogan "Politicians talk, we pay".

Fighting on in the No camp is the North East No group, which has been fronted by Neil Herron who helped organise the Sunderland "metric martyrs" campaign.It lost out last month to North East Says No as the Electoral Commission's officially nominated anti-assembly campaign group but it certainly hasn't gone away.He says many people outside Tyneside believe a "Geordie Parliament" was being offered in the referendum and there is a perfect alternative to that – an assembly or forum of North East MPs.Mr Herron said: "We should sharpen the teeth of the elected representatives we already have."This is because he believes the region's MPs have had their powers eroded with much of their work going to Brussels or the national assemblies of Scotland and Wales.Mr Herron said: "The solution is staring us in the face and that is that MPs should be given regional responsibilities as well as constituency duties."If members were sitting MPs, the position of the assemblies would change immediately. They would carry enormous clout."Mr Herron is well-rehearsed in the No arguments and a regional forum of MPs would not need a new building or have to raise any council tax (if there is a Yes vote Band D voters are expected to pay around £2.60 a year towards an assembly).Neither would there by any need for more politicians or elections, he says.He added: "And, at the next election, there may be candidates standing with a regional and local agenda."That, too, he believes, would increase public interest and accountability in North East politics, a moan that is heard all too often.
18 October 2004