AN attempt to have women accepted in working men's clubs for the first time has been defeated.

And men in the North-East are being blamed for the failure to overturn the rule, which dates back more than 100 years.

A vote to scrap the ban on women becoming full members of CIU clubs fell just short of the required majority.

Calls to quash the rule, known as Clause 12e, were backed by 61 per cent of the Club and Institute Union's 1,128 all-male members, which is five per cent short of a required two-thirds majority.

"The vote against women in the CIU was orchestrated from the North-East," said Keith Barrowcliffe, a former national executive committee member.

He said: "Two or three hundred of their delegates got up and left as soon as they had registered their votes against the motion to remove 12e."

Under current CIU rules, women can be lady members, but not associate members.

If the motion had been passed in Blackpool, women could have bought associate cards and pass cards allowing them to enter clubs without an escort.

They would also have been eligible to stand for election to the local branch committee and the national executive.

Mick McGlasham, branch secretary of Durham CIU, denied North-East delegates had used block voting.

He said: "I respect any club in Durham who does not want ladies as full members."

York Club official John Bacon, who seconded the motion to scrap rule 12e, said: "It is a crying shame. We came so close to lifting the ban on women and we are really disappointed we did not get the last five per cent we needed."