Prescott's Job on the line when his 'pet' dies

Some serious questions will have to be asked over the gross abuse and waste of public money on the blind pursuit of one man's personal dream which rode roughshod over the will of the people and employed lies, spin deceit and duplicity in a futile attempt to create an elected regional assembly in the North East region.

Pressure on Prescott as region votes on assembly
Peter Hetherington,
regional affairs editor
Thursday November 4, 2004
The Guardian

John Prescott will be anxiously pacing the floor of the counting centre in Sunderland tonight as he awaits the result of England's first devolution referendum.
The deputy prime minister has devoted huge political energy to the campaign for a yes vote and knows that his pet project - if not yet his job - is on the line.
During a bruising campaign, opponents of regional government made a strong impact with a populist message of "no more politicians". But a well-organised yes camp believes that a late surge among undecided voters could still give it the edge when the result is declared around midnight.
Turnout was heading for a respectable 50% last night.

Yesterday, Mr Prescott was again forced to rebut claims of the no campaigners - part of whose organisation is drawn from a rightwing London thinktank - that a north-east assembly would mean extra costs and more politicians.

Claiming that complementary local government reorganisation in the two-tier counties of Durham and Northumberland will lead to 500 fewer politicians and substantial savings, he repeated the mantra that the north deserved as good a deal as Scotland, Wales and Greater London.
"They all believe it's done well for them," he said. "It's about giving people in the north-east a strong political voice ... reducing the differential in regional growth between the north and the south."

But he hinted that a no vote could sideline the region: "You'll have the status quo - what the north-east has always had, always following behind the south. We're offering change."

A no vote among the region's 1.9 million voters would be a bitter personal blow for Prescott, who was forced to shelve plans for referendums in Yorkshire and the north-west following a Labour backbench rebellion. They feared a devolution battle in marginal seats could undermine Labour six months before a likely general election. The north-east was considered a safer bet.
But many who assumed an automatic yes have acknowledged that a strong regional identity does not easily translate into political expression.

"It's latent rather than manifest," said Bill Lancaster, the north's most prominent social historian. "And we don't have a political class like the Scots."

Nevertheless, a yes vote in the all-postal ballot would crown a long political career in which Prescott has latterly been a lone voice in the cabinet pushing the case for elected English regional government.

Although supported briefly by Tony Blair on a visit to the north-east two weeks' ago, Prescott has been largely campaigning without the visible support of government colleagues and, more surprisingly, of local MPs.
"They're quite comfortable and the last thing they want is an elected assembly asking a few questions about what they're doing," said one of Prescott's aides. "And they don't want to be seen on the losing side."

A rude awakening
When the phone rang at 2am yesterday and woke Derek and Rose Mary Robson, neither expected to find the deputy prime minister on the other end. But when they answered, John Prescott's unmistakable voice began asking if they had voted in the north-east assembly referendum.
Labour has apologised for the mix-up in which the couple in their 60s, from Stanley, Co Durham, were played the pre-recorded message. The Robsons, who are party members, were then instructed to press a button to indicate how they had voted.
A Labour spokesman yesterday said the call had been made as part of a campaign urging locals to take part in the referendum. Be in the know
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