SO, there we have it. The political world's worst-kept secret finally came to pass and Tony Blair will hand over the reins of power after a decade as Prime Minister.

A number of journalists have contacted the North East Chamber of Trade (NECC) in recent weeks trying to gauge the business community's reaction to this end of an era and, more importantly, to ask what Mr Blair did for his home region during that time.

The North-East economy is considerably different from its position in 1997 - employment levels have soared, unemployment has plummeted, business start-up levels are on the up and we are undoubtedly a wealthier region than we were. Heaven knows, we needed to be.

Can all this be laid at Tony's door? Probably not. However, his Government has played a major role, created the conditions in which North-East businesses have been able to flourish, and we have seized that opportunity with both hands. Fundamentally, and most importantly, we are beginning to see the word "enterprise" not as a dirty word to be abhorred, rather it is the key to unlocking the full potential of the North-East.

One of the most difficult things about having "one of your own boys" as Prime Minister is that any attempt to directly address the prosperity gap in your home region is greeted with catcalls of nepotism - particularly from the London-centric press.

And so we look forward with some optimism to the potential for having a new leader from the other side of the border - particularly one who has had such close association with the inner workings of fiscal management.

NECC has relayed its memberships concerns in recent weeks about rising interest rates. This is not to be negative on the region, rather to highlight that our current, excellent economic success should not be dampened by financial measures to control inflation that hit every region across the board.

The Bank of England has a conundrum on its hands - to cool over-heating in the economy as a whole is to cool economic growth in some of the regions that need it the most.

The solution lies in Downing Street where measures outside of interest rates can be introduced to encourage sustained growth in some areas while others are kept under control.

That, along with the standard North-East shopping list of improved transport infrastructure and skills, would do very nicely thank you Gordon.

* James Ramsbotham is the chief executive of the North East Chamber of Commerce.