By the time these words are read, the great regional government project could be derailed in Yorkshire. Perhaps not permanently but certainly until after the general election.

The cracks in the Yorkshire pro-assembly ranks appeared last week with Lord Haskins, the Labour peer and Yes campaign leader, admitting that defeat was likely if a referendum on the issue went ahead in November.

This week, as Parliament debated the orders necessary to ensure the referendums go ahead, a Labour MP, John Grogan of Selby, called for the referendum to be abandoned suggesting that it would be a struggle to get a Yes vote. One of his more senior colleagues was reported to have said the referendum proposal would be "dead by Friday".

For months the pro-assembly campaigners in Yorkshire have been putting on a brave face, trying to kid those prepared to listen that there is real enthusiasm for regional government. Unfortunately, their arguments have been mostly vacuous because they have been unable to answer positively the only question worth asking in this debate which is whether the regional assemblies will have power and money to make a difference to people's lives.

Now the more realistic of them have come to their senses, realising that the the regional government issue has not captured anybody's imagination, save for self-interested politicians.

Interestingly, Mr Grogan said he believed there was sufficient appetite for the project in the North-East and that the vote should go ahead there so as to act as a "spur and example" to Yorkshire.

We suspect Mr Grogan knows his fellow Yorkshire better than those living "over the border".