DEPUTY Prime Minister John Prescott said yesterday he was confident the forthcoming referendum on the proposed North-East regional assembly would be a success, despite the controversy over all-postal voting.

However, he said that he could not be so certain that people in the North-East would actually vote for the assembly, warning supporters: "You have got to convince the doubters."

Speaking at the Royal Mail's depot in Gateshead, at the launch of the Government's information leaflet explaining the referendum, Mr Prescott said he was happy there would be no repeat of the problems which dogged the all-postal ballot for June's European elections.

An Electoral Commission inquiry into claims of vote-rigging and missing ballot papers is due on August 27.

Proposed ballots on elected assemblies for the North West and Yorkshire and Humberside were postponed following the allegations.

However, critics say it may have been caused by fears of an embarrassing No vote.

Mr Prescott said: "The same complaints were not made in the North-East where there were no such allegations and there is a longer track record of all-postal voting.

"I couldn't see any reason or justification for holding up the referendum - the people of the North-East are leading the way."

The first test of the Royal Mail's ability to cope with the ballot comes over the next three weeks.

During that time, copies of the Government's leaflet, Your Say, go out to 1.2 million homes across the North-East.

Ballot papers for the 1.9 million eligible voters will be delivered in the days after October 17, to be returned ahead of the November 4 polling day.