JOHN PRESCOTT admitted yesterday that a blow-up white elephant had killed off his dream of elected regional assemblies, as he ruled out any further referendums in the North.

In a statement to MPs, the Deputy Prime Minister formally abandoned the postponed polls in Yorkshire and the North-West, following last week's overwhelming No vote in the North-East.

Asked to explain the North-East result, Mr Prescott said it was wrong to claim voters had rejected his plans because they were unhappy with the limited powers on offer.

Instead, he accepted the No campaign had successfully tapped into fears of another expensive tier of local government - epitomised by the famous white elephant.

Mr Prescott said: "I don't think the issue of the powers was the main issue. There were issues about whether people wanted another layer of decision-making.

"That was the question that constantly came up. Does this mean another tier?

"Does this mean we are going to pay for it? Does it mean more politicians?

"The fact that I could show that it doesn't, didn't really matter. They had come to the conclusion they had and that was it - all summed up in the white elephant."

Mr Prescott faced constant laughter from the Conservative benches as he acknowledged the scale of the defeat.

But he suggested the North-East might one day change its mind - referring to the rejection of 1970s devolution schemes by voters in Scotland and Wales.

Mr Prescott said: "Twenty years later they came back and voted for it, when they realised its full benefit."

He faced Conservative calls for him to go further by scrapping the unelected regional assemblies and restoring power to local authorities.

Former Tory leader William Hague, the Richmond MP, demanded an end to all local government shake-ups, which had always proved "vastly expensive and with very few benefits".