02/11/04

It is unfair to point the finger at us. Consider the facts.

The yes campaign is non-party political, deliberately so. Our volunteers and supporters are with us because they believe passionately in a better future for the region.

Our supporters are from all walks of life in the region. These are all people who have proved their pride in and commitment to the region.

Both the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats are strong supporters of the assembly and are running their own, separate campaigns in favour of a yes vote.

Until a few weeks ago the campaign was being conducted in an open and informative way - with the arguments against a yes vote being led by Neil Herron, a man who has argued from a regional viewpoint.

At the last minute, the NESNO campaign appeared out of the blue (or should that be true blue?) and was given official status. This is when things began to turn dirty.

Taking their cue from the kind of negative campaigning popularised by the Bush Republicans in the United States, NESNO immediately set about making claims which are wildly untrue:

"There will be more politicians." There will actually be several hundred less, as a result of the accompanying local government reorganisation.

"It will cost a fortune." The assembly will cost 5p a week for every adult.

"There'll be a huge, expensive new building." All sides agree that there are plenty of existing buildings to do the job in Durham City - and no-one is tempted to repeat the Scottish Parliament fiasco.

"It will have no powers." The assembly will have significant powers in the areas of job creation, regeneration, transport, housing, arts and sport.

Sadly, the media largely left the mistruths of NESNO's propaganda unchallenged.

We make no apology for our decision to expose NESNO for what it is. Only by doing so could we begin to talk again about the positive value of an elected assembly. - Ross Forbes, Campaign Director, Yes4theNorthEast.

IT'S true that party political rabble-rousing to swing the outcome of the referendum on regional government is "utterly puerile" (Echo, Oct 28).

However, it isn't true that the no lobby are "unreformed Tories". John Prescott was only able to throw this red herring into the debate, and yes campaigners to follow it up, after the Electoral Commission decided to award official funding to Conservative-backed NESNO, in preference to the independent, grassroots campaign led for two years by Neil Herron from his tiny office in Sunderland.

It was this same Electoral Commission that fobbed us off with a postal ballot deemed unfit for use in any other part of the country, and which has stood by approvingly as members of the Government tour our towns touting for an assembly in contempt of the 28-day purdah period.

All the same, I doubt whether it's disgust at all this that's discouraging people from voting. The real turn-off is the referendum itself.

Those of us who have read the draft bill and see how little power it offers, apart from the power to raise taxes, are voting no. But the vast majority of North-Easterners couldn't care less one way or the other. There was never any popular demand for an assembly, it was pushed to the top of the agenda by a group of academic and political insiders.

Clearly, the majority of us are becoming less and less willing to act as voting fodder for a self-serving elite.

We don't need an assembly to give us either hopes or dreams - we can manage our hopes and dreams for ourselves: all we need is a bit less government interference, so that we have a better chance of bringing them to fruition. - Gillian Swanson, Whitley Bay.

I FAIL to see the difference between southern Tories telling us to vote no and southern socialists telling us to vote yes.

And it should be remembered that if the no votes win, the Government will keep on coming back until it gets the result it wants. Should the yes vote win there will be no second chance.

Secondly, I wonder where Brian Walker has been for the last 30 years when he talks about preserving one of the most historic counties in England.

Those of us who live by the Tyne, Wear or Tees were once proud to be part of this county, but this privilege is now denied us. To me, if the present administrative county is broken up it will only be the logical end of a process that was begun in 1968. - Peter Elliott, Eaglescliffe.

THIS week's star prize for stating the blindingly obvious goes to Ross Forbes (Yes4TheNortheast) who says: "The response from the no campaign is typically negative".

What I would like to know is what were the £184,000 additional costs incurred by Messrs Prescott and Raynsford in their campaigning endeavours, assuming that we the taxpayers are already paying their wages plus their considerable expenses?

Let's hope for their sakes it was not a "no win no fee" deal. - Chris Greenwell, Aycliffe Village.

WE have far more politicians per head of the population than the US. What we really need is fewer politicians.

If a regional assembly happens it will lead to an already outrageously high council tax and create more "jobs for the boys".

A modern technological society needs fewer politicians and far more technologists and scientists.

The main reason Britain performs so poorly is because those who govern us are largely technologically ignorant.

The French had an eminent scientist as their minister for science - Britain has a grocer. - John Laurence, Sunderland.

TO be honest, I don't know whether a regional assembly would be good for the region or not. I question the very notion of the region.

I was born in Middlesbrough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Some of our administration was located in Northallerton. Perhaps not satisfactory.

I will not bore the reader with Middlesbrough's many changes re local government over the last 40 years, except to say that most people noticed little difference in their everyday lives.

The same will be the case under a regional assembly. Middlesbrough could just as well be the most northern town in some other region stretching east, west and southwards.

Is Barnard Castle in the proposed region? My local reference library could show me no detailed map. Why not? We citizens of the Boro looked to the Tees Valley, to Stockton, to Billingham, to Redcar, to the North Yorkshire villages such as Great Ayton, Guisborough or Stokesley.

Newcastle and Sunderland were rivals. There is no North-East culture which binds us to Tyneside or Wearside. Only outsiders like certain members of the Government perpetuate this myth.

I support York City now as well as the Boro. Could I ever support Newcastle or Sunderland? The region is a myth. Someone has an agenda. Beware. - Brian Roberts, York.