AT a time when the enormity of voting on the question of regional government needs to be hammered home, the last thing the Government needs is speculation that the scheduled referendums might be delayed or scrapped altogether.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott tried to stop the rumour mill yesterday by insisting that the referendums would go ahead. But he couldn't confirm the autumn timetable and so the seeds of speculation have grown.

If the Electoral Commission forces a delay due to concerns over postal voting, it is hard to see when the referendums would take place. Despite Mr Prescott's defiance in the Commons, some Labour backbenchers, armed with forecasts that only one "yes" vote out of three is likely, see the chance to wriggle out of his grand plan.

Winter has been ruled out due to campaigning difficulties, and there would be no appetite to wait for spring with a General Election in the wind.

And were the Tories to block a third term for Labour, devolution would be kicked, enthusiastically, into touch.

With private polls suggesting Yorkshire is a lost cause, it is in the North-East where most damage would be caused. The question of a North-East regional assembly has been around for decades and it is vital not to lose the chance to find out once and for all where the people stand.

We need to know as soon as possible that the referendum will go ahead on schedule, we need to know precisely what powers an assembly would have, and we need to know, unequivocally, that it would be in Durham City. Otherwise, it will all have been a huge waste of time and it will be a long time before another window of opportunity opens.