Bloated white elephant deflated...no hot air left!

...but enough about the Deputy Prime Minister...the No Campaign White Elephant is still going strong. In the analysis, and depending on the size of the No vote, full scrutiny of Prescott's decision to go ahead with the referendum despite the lack of demand (evidence from the Soundings Exercise) will show that this whole charade, including the cancelling of the referendums in Yorkshire and the North West, has been a gross abuse and waste of more than £10m of public money. £10m of public money abused in an attempt to fulfil one man's dream. A dream that is about to turn into a nightmare of Elm Street proportions.

Never wanted, nor asked for by the people of the region the dog's breakfast of an idea of creating an institution containing more expensive politicians at a time when people are disengaged from party politics was a loser from the start.
Over the past few days we have witnessed a very subdued and demoralised Prescott. The desperate attempts to drag senior politicians to the region has failed. The desperate attempts to rally the union and Labour Party membership to vote has failed. The biggest turnout figures so far are in the sceptic areas and they will be an emphatic 'No.'

Let us hope that in the analysis of the result there will be a full post mortem of the biggest political con trick ever foisted on the North East public...and complicit in this will be the BBC with their poll headline from 2002 which said that 72% of the people in the North East want an elected assembly, and the Electoral Commission with countless examples of their incompetence.

The BBC Poll was the most deceitful piece of journalism in this whole charade, and they have a lot to answer for. They have tried to distance themselves from it since. What they did not reveal was that 86% of those questioned had little or no idea what an elected regional assembly was. They were led by the pollster, "It will give your region a greater voice in Westminster and Brussels." That is where the 72% figure came from, and this was even before the White Paper detailing any of the powers. To read the BBC headline at the time click here.

The Electoral Commission will be exposed as nothing more than toothless, inept Government puppets and their decision on designation the most bizarre of all.
Hopefully there will be more than us preparing an analysis of their catalogue of errors, and it is important that this is done because the integrity of our democratic process is at stake and the belief that the Electoral Commission are in any way effective needs to be shattered.

But the truth will come out, and it is important that it does so well in advance of the referendum on the European Constitution (if we ever have one).

Northern Echo
3rd November
Prescott issues plea to public over regional assembly votes
by Chris Lloyd
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott signs off his regional assembly campaign today with a plea for people to vote before Thursday's 10pm deadline.
Speaking last night, he said: "I've never been confident because you can't predict the result. I know it's neck-and-neck, but what is certain is that every vote does count and those who haven't should get out and vote.
"It's like in America, where people are seeing that their vote might be counting and are thinking 'oh blimey, I don't want to abstain, I want to vote'."
Sounding tired after weeks of campaigning for an idea that he has championed for more than 20 years, Mr Prescott continued his US analogy. He said: "As Bill Clinton said last week, vote for the ones offering hope and change.
"If you really believe that you are satisfied that the North-East is getting a fair shake, then keep the status quo - and you will continue the same, trailing behind.
"But if you want something to change, we are advocating a regional assembly. It has worked for Scotland, it has worked for Wales and it is working for London, so I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work for the North-East."
He admitted that the Yes campaign had been a hard sell. He said: "It is much more difficult to get a positive message across.
"These are real and substantial changes, but when you deal with strategic things, it is not the same as day-to-day things like your local rubbish collection."
He tried to puncture the No campaign's inflatable white elephant - which was at the Angel ofthe North yesterday summing up the opposing view of an elected assembly - by saying that there would be fewer politicians, fewer councils and less expense.
He said: "If they say it's going to be a white elephant because it won't make any decisions then, frankly, the decisions currently made by quangos must be made by civil service white elephants, I suppose. We just want those decisions to be made by directly elected local people."
Mr Prescott's plea for people to vote brought rare unanimity to the campaign.
John Elliott, chairman of North-East Says No, said: "We are confident that we will win, but we want as many people as possible to vote No over the next couple of days to make sure.
"The rest is last-minute desperation from Mr Prescott. He can come up with all the soundbites he wants to claiming that this means more power for the North-East, but the white elephant has rightly become the icon of this campaign as it accurately symbolises what's being offered."