LOCAL Government Minister Nick Raynsford yesterday ruled out the abolition of district councils in County Durham in the wake of the No vote.

Within minutes of the announcement in the early hours of yesterday - in which the North-East electorate voted by 89,149 votes to 87,050 to scrap the district councils in favour of a single unitary authority, Durham County Council leader Ken Manton called on the Government to abide by the result and set up a single county-wide council.

However, Mr Raynsford insisted that it had been made clear beforehand that local government reorganisation would only be triggered by a Yes vote.

Yesterday, he said: "When politicians give pledges, it is right that they honour those pledges and we pledged not to carry through those changes unless there was a Yes vote."

By yesterday afternoon, Councillor Manton had pulled back from his call to continue with the reorganisation.

He said: "If a future government decided to reorganise councils in Durham, then we would urge them to base their decisions on the results of the referendum.

"Rather than subjecting us to another expensive review, from this poll they already know what people's preference for unitary local government would be.

"But for now, we will continue to work with the district councils to provide the quality of council services which people expect and deserve."

However, such bridge-building may prove difficult following an acrimonious campaign marked by allegations of mud-slinging and dirty tricks on both sides.

Although the total vote showed a significant majority in favour of a single county-wide authority, it was affected by an overwhelming vote in Durham City against the districts.

In most council areas -- including Derwentside, Easington, Teesdale and Wear Valley - a majority of voters backed the option of three smaller unitary authorities.

Councillor Olive Brown, leader of Wear Valley District Council, said that where district councillors had conducted active campaigns, voters had backed the three-council option.