The debate for and against a Regional Assembly for the North-East region, with an assembly capital probably located in Durham City, is well under way, with a vote to be held in October. Kevin Rowan, secretary of the TUC Norther Region, give his view.

The Government is keen at the moment to decentralise much of its governance operations and its commitment to establish elected regional assemblies in certain areas is very strong.

Increased democratic accountability at a regional level does automatically seem a good option.

But as a representative of the trade union movement in the North-East, I have to take a much more objective look at what an elected regional assembly would offer workers and future workers in the region.

I believe people are most interested in the real benefits an elected assembly would deliver for them.

There is much talk of aspiration in the North-East. The working people I meet on a daily basis tell me they want jobs, prosperity and opportunity.

It is rarely the case that one factor alone determines the condition of a regional economy.

We watched jobs taken from the region by global businesses that are not embedded here. This has especially been the case in manufacturing, but we also see parts of the service economy suffer from these challenges.

The regional development agency has made a significant difference in maintaining jobs and attracting investment to the North-East, but they do that within a framework established at a national level.

An elected regional assembly would have much more influence to decide where to deploy resources. An elected regional assembly would mean jobs for the North-East.

But workers don't merely want any job. I know from first-hand experience that workers want to develop their skills. They see this, quite rightly, as a key opportunity to improve and increase their prosperity.

Here, again, we see a national framework, a national skills agenda, largely determining how the vast amounts of public money invested in skills is used in this region. Labour markets are not national, they are local.

There is a clear case that the priorities for the skills agenda should be set at a regional level, and the authority to direct public spending on skills should be regional too.

Skills are a key to prosperity and so, for workers, an elected regional assembly would also mean increased prosperity.

There have been many commentaries about the fact that the North-East is dogged by a lack of opportunity for our most talented individuals.

We offer fewer opportunities for graduates than all other regions in the UK.

With a regional assembly we would have a greater say over Higher Education and provisions that could keep talent in the North-East.

For the key things workers aspire to in the North-East, jobs, prosperity and opportunity, an elected regional assembly will make a difference for the better.