Regional assembly powers defended

Mar 25 2005
By Zoe Hughes Political Editor, The Journal

The Government has defended its plans to introduce an elected regional assembly to the North-East, saying it had plenty of powers and would have attracted high-quality people to work for it.

After coming under heavy fire from campaigners on all sides, ministers yesterday issued a staunch defence of their proposals, dismissing fears the powers on offer were "inadequate" and that only the retired and unemployed would get involved.

It followed a report from MPs earlier this year which warned John Prescott's dream of regional devolution had been thwarted by the Deputy Prime Minister's failure to convince Whitehall departments to surrender their powers to the initiative.

However, a response issued last night insisted the powers offered were credible and possessed "a significant degree of flexibility".

Even though 78pc of the public dismissed the idea of an assembly out of hand, the Government yesterday said a new breed of politicians could have been attracted to regional politics.

They did concede though: "This could ultimately only be tested when the assemblies were established."

The plan for directly elected regional assemblies was quickly dropped by Mr Prescott following the overwhelming result of the referendum last year, which saw almost half of all eligible voters in the region turn out to vote.

Hitting back, the Government yesterday said: "We believed that the package of responsibilities offered a feasible and credible package, but did not rule out developing these further in the future.

"If the Government does bring forward further proposals for elected regional assemblies, it will look closely at the committee's recommendations."

Legally, elected regional assemblies cannot return as an issue for another seven years, although supporters and critics both concede it is unlikely to ever return.

Metric martyr and `No' campaigner Neil Herron said the failure of assemblies was "ultimately down the public realising this was a political project about fulfilling the dreams of a minority of people."

He added: "This was a political con trick from the outset and no amount of backtracking can get away from the fact that the Government was given an absolute pasting."

Gateshead MP Joyce Quin, a keen supporter of elected assemblies, accepted the apparent lack of powers were a "factor" in people's decisions but said: "It was not the overriding reason.

"I would certainly have liked there to have been stronger powers, but I think they represented an important start for devolution.

"However the `No' campaign tended to concentrate on other issues, like not wanting an extra layer of politicians. Their arguments were wrong in my eyes because it would have democratized an existing layer of regional politics."