Yorkshire Vote? Statements of punch drunk Ministers

Yorkshire Post
Humiliated Ministers still not ruling out Yorkshire vote
MINISTERS have refused to close the door on a referendum vote for a Yorkshire mini-parliament, despite the rejection of a regional assembly in the North-East which almost certainly spells the end of John Prescott's 25-year campaign for English devolution.

The Deputy Prime Minister said yesterday he would take stock of what should now happen in the two remaining Northern regions still earmarked for polls following the "emphatic defeat", while Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford added that no instant judgment would be made on scrapping plans for referendums in Yorkshire and the North-West.But the leader of Yorkshire's devolutionists Lord Haskins last night said the idea of assemblies was finished.

Electors had failed to identify with regions that were "artificial contrivances", felt the bodies had not been given enough powers, and wanted to "give the Government a bloody nose", said the Yes4Yorkshire chairman.His deputy, campaign director Jane Thomas, launched a veiled attack on the Government's handling of the issue, saying Ministers had not been "brave enough" to put the prospect of real power on the table that supporters could sell to people.

The result of the first – and probably last – referendum on regional assemblies outside London saw a whopping 78 per cent of people who voted, almost 700,000 electors, kick out the Labour and Liberal Democrat-backed devolution proposal for the North-East, against just over 22 per cent of the share of the vote backing the proposal, barely 197,000 votes.Not one of the region's 23 local authority areas, including Tony Blair's Sedgefield borough, backed an assembly and in some parts the hostility saw the No campaign take 85 per cent of the votes.A higher-than-expected turnout of almost 48 per cent meant all sides accepted the result as clear mandate against regional government.The outcome was a humiliation for Mr Prescott, who has been pressing virtually singlehandedly in the Cabinet for assemblies and had invested all his political credibility in a Yes vote.

It came just months after the Hull East MP was forced to manoeuvre an embarrassing U-turn in Yorkshire and the North-West, dropping the referendums planned in these two areas after Labour backbenchers and private polling suggested there was no enthusiasm for his vision.Early estimates put the total cost of the Government's drive for assemblies – including the Government's Your Say information campaign, the Boundary Committee's review of local government prompted by the referendum and the running costs of the North-East referendum – at almost £11m.

But speaking at a Press conference after the result, Mr Prescott insisted English regional devolution was not dead. "In regards to the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber we will take stock," he said.When challenged by the Yorkshire Post to comment if failure of the proposal stemmed from the weakness of the assembly on offer, he insisted the proposals were "worth voting for"."I don't think that was the reason at all, it was an argument about getting another tier of government," he said. "People thought they were going to get another talking shop and didn't like it. "I didn't agree with them."Mr Raynsford said a "significant package of powers" had been put on the table and argued people had not understood the proposals. "We will reflect on the outcome here in the North East and the views of people in Yorkshire and the Humber and North West regions before making any decisions," he added. "There are important lessons from the outcome of the referendum and we need to consider them in the cold light of day rather than jumping over-rapidly into any precipitous conclusions."It's not sensible to make an instant judgement with this because there's a lot of evidence we need to look at."

The North-East Says No campaign said simple messages about added cost and bureaucracy had won the day.

Conservative leader Michael Howard was "delighted" by the outcome."I am sure the idea of English regional assemblies will now be dropped," he said."The Government particularly chose the North-East because they thought it was the only one they could win and now it has become clear that they can't even win that."

The Liberal Democrats, who campaigned alongside Labour in favour of an assembly, blamed the Government for the defeat."Labour's half-baked ideas on devolution prompted this No vote. With so few powers promised, this was not a true test of the region's desire to take power from London," said the party's regions spokesman Ed Davey.

Victorious anti-assembly campaigners in the North-East and Yorkshire Tories last night called for Mr Prescott's resignation.Leading No campaigner Neil Heron said: "We did not expect anything other than an absolute landslide," he said. "We also expect, after spending more than £10m of public money on this fruitless exercise, that Mr Prescott will now consider his position."

Conservative MEP Tim Kirkhope, also speaking for his fellow MEP Edward McMillan-Scott, said: "John Prescott, the architect of this debacle, has to resign forthwith. "If there ever was a case of an 'emperor with no clothes' this is it."The MEP said it was also time to look at dismantling the unelected regional assembly, the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly, which has came under even greater scrutiny: "These bodies have no credibility or right to continue. It has to be wound up."Mr Heron added: "If the people do not want elected regional assemblies, they certainly do not want unelected ones permanently imposed on them."All local authorities who use ratepayers' money to fund these assemblies must now start looking at withdrawing right across the country. These organisations have no mandate to exist."

Yorkshire and Humber Assembly chairman Peter Box said the work of the body would "continue on behalf of the people", despite the referendum result and recent criticism of the organisation by more than half the region's local council leaders.Last night deflated devolutionists were stressing that the question of how the Northern regions can improve their economies themselves without elected assemblies still needed to be answered.Lord Haskins said: "This approach doesn't look as if it is going to work but we also have to deal with key regional problems. "If this route doesn't work something else has to be found because the problems are still there."Jane Thomas, who spent time in the North-East helping the Yes campaign, said: "One of the things that comes out of this campaign is that the principle of devolution was widely accepted – but that the package that was on offer was not."This has been a really difficult thing to take to the people because this was not what had been intended when we began advocating this."It was so difficult to sell on the doorstep because it was difficult to say with any certainty how it would help people."She added that the board of Yes4Yorkshire would meet next week to consider the organisation's future.
06 November 2004