THE potential benefits of postal voting are self-evident. In the modern age, where apathy is rife, anything which encourages political engagement must be considered.

Today's report by the Electoral Commission must not signal the end of reform of our traditional ballots.

Of course, the incidents of fraud, highlighted by the Commission, are of great concern. But lessons can be learned from the experiments of the recent European and local government elections to ensure security measures are improved.

By and large, postal ballots held in the North-East were a success, and relatively trouble-free. There is no justification for not using the system in November's referendum on the regional assembly.

The referendum, after all, is a means to gauge public opinion on a specific issue. A postal ballot will ensure a broadly-based poll.

The issue of fraud, while still important, is less critical when we are voting for the principle of having an assembly rather than choosing the people who will sit in an assembly.

The referendum must go ahead as planned. The Government has already dithered on the subject of devolution. The dithering has to stop. For too long, the focus on the medium and long term development of our region has been overlooked because of the lingering debate on regional government.

One way or another we must decide what political structure we will have in place, so we can get on with the important business of growing our economy and our prosperity.