ALAN Milburn yesterday tried to persuade North-East business leaders of the need for regional government.

He said: "The vote will not be won unless people understand what a regional assembly will do for them, but thus far, the debate has been about the process and not the product."

The Darlington MP and former Health Secretary told the general meeting of the Tees Valley Local Committee of the North-East Chamber of Commerce: "I think a regional assembly can potentially bring jobs, jobs, jobs. It can build on the foundations of recent years and make full employment, so long in our region a dream, a reality."

He also hinted that a regional assembly might be able to bring a share of the BBC's £2bn budget to the North-East, and suggested that it might be able to build a rapid transport system connecting Newcastle with the south of the region.

"When the Tyne and Wear Metro was built we were ahead of the game, but we have fallen behind and now's the time to catch up," he said.

In a wide-ranging speech at the Blackwell Grange hotel, in Darlington, he explained why he felt Europe had to reform and become more in touch with local communities, and demanded that reform of public services continued at a pace.

He said that without reform "as more people can afford to opt out of public services - as prosperity spreads - we will end up with the nightmare scenario of poor services only serving poor people. I don't want to see that happen. That isn't the sort of country I think we should be seeking to create".

The meeting elected Bob Cuffe, advertising director of Gazette Media Limited, in Middlesbrough, to replace the out-going Jeff Fryer, of the Royal Bank of Scotland, as the local chairman.