UNION officials last night said they were in the dark over the number of jobs likely to go in the North-East following Gordon Brown's announcement of huge Civil Service cutbacks.

Brian Morrison, a regional secretary with the public sector PCS union, which represents 10,000 Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) staff in the region, said: "The numbers of staff who will lose their jobs will be significantly higher than previously thought.

"But at the DWP we are still in the dark as to where the axe is going to fall and our members are obviously extremely worried.

"It seems madness to cut thousands of jobs and expect to run an efficient service when we cannot provide that at the moment."

Pensioners' groups were equally unhappy about their lot, despite Mr Brown announcing an extra £140m for elderly people so they can insulate and heat their homes.

John Berry, secretary of the North-East Pensioners' Association, said: "Pensioners are saying they don't want charity, they just want their dignity.

"At the end of the day, they want a decent pension to which they are entitled to so they can look after themselves without all this jiggery-pokery on top.

"This area has the biggest organised pensioners' movement in the country and people are getting on board while they wait for Gordon Brown to keep his promises."

Meanwhile, claims by the Yes4theNorthEast campaign that Mr Brown's speech paved the way for extra powers for regional assemblies were dismissed at Westminster.

The Chancellor's spending review went no further than previous ministerial speeches in pledging only to consider responsibilities over transport, skills and training, sources said.

However, Mr Brown did announce additional powers for the regional development agency, which would, in turn, form part of the assembly's remit.

They include Business Link services for new firms, business-university collaborations and rural policies, administered at present by the Countryside Agency.

Mr Brown pledged to "further devolve decision-making out of Whitehall" with an extra £450m by 2008, to be split between the nine regional development agencies.