Prescott take notice of purdah? Electoral Commission spotted? Fat chance!

Front page of today's Journal with Prescott alluding to more transport powers in yet another staggering breach of the purdah period. The contempt that this man has for the fairness of the referendum process beggars belief. He is a man desperate to avoid humiliation at all costs...but it is too late for that.
Where is the Electoral Commission?
No doubt they will produce a report way after the issue has been decided and it will be dependent on us to provide them with the evidence.
I am sorry Mr. Younger, but you and the Electoral Commission should be camped in the region for the duration of this referendum with observers and a very high profile. On that count you have failed and failed miserably...again.


Prescott's last ditch vote bid
Nov 2 2004
By Ross Smith, The Journal

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott last night made an 11th hour bid for support for a regional assembly by claiming he had struck a deal to get the North-East equal powers to London on transport.

Mr Prescott said he had reached agreement with Transport Secretary Alastair Darling on Friday to significantly beef up the powers given to an assembly under the upcoming Transport Bill.

But opposing `No' campaigners dismissed the announcement as "desperate stuff" in the final days of the referendum campaign, claiming it made no difference to powers announced in the draft Regional Assemblies Bill in July.

And business leaders said the proposal would be "toothless" unless there was a devolution of funding as well. Under the Bill, national bodies would have a legal duty to consult with an assembly on transport plans which would affect the North-East.
The deal could pave the way for a region-wide passenger transport authority, which would oversee public transport across the whole North-East.

Mr Prescott said: "They're bringing out a Transport Bill, and what we want it to say is the elected regional assembly [ERA] should have very similar powers on transport as they're proposing to give to London, to have more say over the rail and transport proposals.
"We agreed on Friday that these new ERAs would have these powers and it would be in the new Bill, but if we don't get the Bill, we don't get the powers.
"Up to then, there wasn't a statutory requirement for the Government to have to consult."
He said the change signalled a willingness in Government to devolve more powers. "The transport one is another example again of the wakening insight in central government that there may well be a powerful voice here," he said.

But a North-East Says No spokesman said: "This is absolutely desperate stuff from Prescott. He clearly knows the `Yes' campaign is in trouble.
"He is simply repeating what was already in the policy statement published with the Regional Assemblies Bill in the summer. This stated that `elected assemblies should be consulted on rail proposals in their region' and that `consultation could be provided for through a version of this Bill subsequently introduced to Parliament'. So there's nothing new here.
"In any event, a statutory requirement for the Government to just consult an assembly simply confirms our view that it will be nothing more than an expensive talking shop."
NESNO added that the fact that PTAs were presently run by local councils showed there is no need for an assembly.

North-East Chamber of Commerce chief executive George Cowcher said: "A single PTA would be interesting, particularly if it has borrowing powers. It may well be able to do investment in public transport the way we couldn't do otherwise.
"But the crucial thing is not necessarily about consultation. It's about the funding. Unless there's some real devolution in funding, it still seems to be fairly toothless."
Yes4theNorthEast chairman John Tomaney said: "John Prescott's announcement suggests that the Government is going to allocate significant powers over transport to an elected regional assembly. If powers were to match those of the Mayor of London, they would be very substantial indeed, including giving us powers over rail and bus regeneration and investment in roads."

News of the deal came a day after Liberal Democrat Regions spokesman Ed Davey told The Journal his party would bring down the Regional Assemblies Bill in the House of Lords if the Government did not hand over more powers over transport.
Last night he said: "This seems like a step in the right direction and shows that there's a real prospect of winning more transport powers if there's a `yes' vote.
"Liberal Democrats will make sure the Regional Assemblies Bill only survives if there are even more transport powers, but we need people to give us a chance to do that by voting `yes'."
Mr Prescott also agreed that the A1 needed dualling up to the Scottish border, but said an assembly was the best way to achieve this.
Mr Prescott's announcement came as figures showed turnout reached 35.1pc by yesterday, raising hopes it would top 40pc by Thursday's deadline - well above many predictions before the referendum.