HE has been known to lose his rag in the past, but nothing seemed to ruffle the feathers of John Prescott yesterday.

The Deputy Prime Minister arrived in Darlington just after 10am, having already digested the unpalatable results of The Northern Echo's poll on a directly elected regional assembly.

The news that 42 per cent of respondents were against an assembly was surely the last thing Mr Prescott wanted to read before touring the region to push for a Yes vote.

But as he launched into an impassioned and lengthy speech in front of a small crowd of onlookers in the Market Place, he appeared to believe it was still all to play for in the referendum campaign.

Flanked by former Cabinet Minister Stephen Byers, he smiled good-naturedly as he admitted: "It's a Mori poll, you cannot ignore it, it's a serious poll."

But he did not touch on whether it meant the Government was facing a resounding, and hugely embarrassing, No vote in the postal ballot on Thursday, November 4.

Instead, with a politician's knack for turning a sow's ear into a silk purse, he told voters he was rather pleased with what it revealed -that people were debating the issue.

He said: "What we really need to be talking about is what powers the people in the North-East have. All we say is why can't you have the same power to make decisions over the economic development in the area, like they have in Scotland, Wales and London."

The people had other ideas.

While Mr Prescott was there to talk about the benefits of two-tier government, members of the public wanted to complain about issues rather closer to home.

One man wanted to know whether the regional assembly would put more money into street cleaning.

"That's a very important question," responded Mr Prescott, before conceding that, no, it would not be concerned with issues such as that.

Another wanted to know whether it would help him get his housing benefit.

"No," admitted Mr Prescott, before Mr Byers chipped in with a suggestion the chap go and see his MP.

Try as he might, Mr Prescott could not seem to steer the conversation towards the matter at hand.

Father-of-one Tim Walker, 34, quizzed him for five minutes about crime, anti-social behaviour and poor council services on Darlington's Branksome estate, none of which would come under the assembly's remit.

And he chatted to Anthony and Gloria Griffiths, from Newton Aycliffe, about Darlington's market -but not much else.

As he got back on the bus to head for Stockton, Mr Prescott seemed confident the vote could still go his way. "I think I found more said Yes than No," he said, as he leaned back in his chair contentedly.

Back in the market, it was a different story.

"He's just here to drum up business, nothing else," said Mr Walker. "All of a sudden there are lots of police about, but normally you can't get one. That's the stuff that people really care about."

l Former Transport Secretary Stephen Byers joined Mr Prescott yesterday to explain why the North-East needed a regional assembly as well as MPs such as himself.

"I represent the interests of North Tyneside in Westminster," he told shoppers in Darlington. "What I am not able to do is represent the interests of the region as I have not got a regional voice.

"The important thing in my view is we now have the chance to say whether we in the North-East want to take control of our own destiny.

"Are we going to have the confidence to be brave enough to say 'Yes, we want to control the future', taking it away from the civil servants who presently determine priorities within the region?"

Mr Byers joined Mr Prescott as the tour took them from Darlington to Stockton, Redcar, Middlesbrough and Peterlee.