Labour fight Labour...amazing what a dose of self-preservation does! But where is the Electoral Commission.

It seems that the Electoral Commission must be hiding in the same place as Lord Lucan.
Where is the comment Mr. Younger?
Where is your intervention Mr. Younger?
Where is your referendum team Mr. Younger?
For Mr. Younger, Chairman of the Electoral Commission, to continue to even claim a salary is an insult to the taxpayers who fund his inept, incompetent, toothless organisation.

Devolution campaign hit by 'dirty tricks' claims
Hélène Mulholland in Darlington
The Guardian
Wednesday November 3, 2004
A row has broken out in the Labour party over claims of dirty tactics in theregional assembly referendum, involving a plane, balloons and biros.With only two voting days to go until the poll closes, the Labour leader ofthe Wear Valley Labour group confirmed she has reported her party colleaguesto the Electoral Commission over a series of campaign stunts ahead of theclose of polls.

The controversy surrounds claims that Durham county council has beenbreaching the strict publicity code during the election in order to swaynorth east voters to opt for the council's preferred option for local government reorganisation.

Following pressure on the deputy prime minister, John Prescott, the government agreed to streamline two-tier councils into unitary authorities to avoid too many layers of government in the regions.
This has led to voters in Northumberland and Durham being balloted on two issues:
-whether they want a regional assembly,
-and beneath this whether they would prefer a single county-wide unitary authority, or three smaller unitary councils made up of the existing districts.

The threat of being axed has caused mounting tensions in the two county council areas, with the lines predictably drawn between districts and counties, with the latter favouring mergers into smaller unitaries, and the county wanting to see its boundaries kept through a county-wide unitary.

Olive Brown, leader of the Wear Valley Labour group, said colleagues at Durham county council had placed campaigning material on pension leafletsover the past few months, urging the electorate to opt for county-wide unitary status. There were also leaflets promoting the council's desire to become unitary, in breach of the strict publicity code, which requires councils to issue even-handed information to voters. "It is blatant advertising," she said.
The last straw came when a plane was flown across the county yesterday advertising the slogan 'one county one council' with a red 'A' - the county-wide unitary option on the ballot paper - at the end.

Ms Brown admitted the districts themselves had spent 'hundreds of pounds' to inform voters of their options through pens and balloons within theelectoral campaigning rules, but said these had had to be withdrawn following complaints from the county council.The fact that the county council was Labour run was 'very awkward', she added.

Durham county council denied it had funded yesterday's plane, but said its decision to place a 'balanced' advert in a pension leaflet produced by aprivate company was carried out in the summer and in keeping with the rules."It gave a description of both options", a council spokeswoman said.

But Durham county councillor Brian Walker, a member of the Chester le StreetLabour party, confirmed that he commissioned the plane in his capacity as campaigner for the Durham councillors' supporters club. Its membership includes a number of Durham county councillors and it has been lobbying fora single unitary option.