Where are your balls Mr. Younger?

The spineless, toothless Electoral Commission is pretending to be the referee in the North East referendum. However, the whistle they are not even prepared to take out of their pockets does not appear to even have a pea in it.

In Electoral Commission workshops in the North East in the run-up to the referendum, we were told that the Government would observe a 28 day perdah period where no information or statements by the Government would be placed in the public domain. Ministers could campaign in their 'personal' capacity as Labour Party members but not as Government Ministers.

Well we see by Peter Hain's statements below that they have total and utter contempt for the process and with the visit to the region by Brown and Prescott today, the No Campaign is not going to get a fair fight.

And where is the referee?

Getting the yellow and red cards ready?

Spineless, toothless and hiding behind weasel words. " We would be very surprised if they (Government Ministers) hadn't taken legal advice."

Of course they haven't taken legal advice. They are laughing at you Mr. Younger.

They laughed at you when they pulled the postal ballots in the NW and Yorkshire before your recommendations.

Prescott laughed at you and couldn't wait to use the Conservative versus Labour argument when you gave the money to the elusive conservative construct, NESNO.

Mr. Younger has said that the Electoral Commission is a 'learning organisation.'

Well, Mr. Younger, our democracy has not got time to wait for your balls to drop. Start doing what we thought you were getting paid to do or hand in your resignation.

Referendum rule row as big names arrive
Oct 12 2004
By Ross Smith, The Journal

Anti-devolution campaigners say they will lodge an official complaint with referendum watchdogs over Cabinet ministers backing a `yes' vote, as two of the Government's biggest names arrive in the region today.
The North-East No Campaign, run by Neil Herron, claims ministers are breaking referendum rules by making campaign speeches in the run-up to the poll.
A `purdah' period started last Thursday - 28 days before polls close in the assembly. After that date, public bodies, including local authorities and the Government, are barred from encouraging people to vote in a particular way.
Since then, Commons Leader Peter Hain has urged a `yes' vote, while Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott will do the same in Newcastle today.
Mr Herron said: "Government ministers have had two years to posture and campaign on this subject.
"It is typical of the contempt that Mr Hain has for the democratic process that he has chosen to make statements during the official purdah period.
"We hope, and expect full censure by the Electoral Commission. Other ministers are planning to come here and campaign as well. We want this nipped in the bud by the Electoral Commission. Such illegality should not be permitted."
But a spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission said: "We would be very surprised if they hadn't taken legal advice on this."
She said ministers are likely to be on the right side of the law if they campaign as members of the Labour Party, rather than the Government, but admitted it is a "grey area".
Meanwhile, the official North-East Says No campaign yesterday claimed a new assembly building would be "inevitable," saying it would be considered necessary for prestige.
Yes4theNorthEast has said the assembly will probably be housed in an existing building, but the final decision will be down to the elected members.

To read the 'It's worth a few bob,' piece about Minister Hain's statements click here