LONDONERS are paying hundreds of pounds extra council tax to cover the cost of their regional government, William Hague, MP for Richmond, has told the Lower Wensleydale Parish Forum in Leyburn.

He warned last Friday that householders in Yorkshire would not only be taxed to cover the cost of setting up a regional government but, as in London, they could expect an additional precept on top of that levied by their local council. Both the Welsh and Scottish assemblies had cost millions more than expected to set up.

In addition the cost of the Scottish assembly building had risen over 100pc to £430m and it was not complete yet.

It had already been pointed out at the meeting that pensioners especially were finding it hard to keep up with the rising cost of the council tax. "I think the cost is a powerful argument against having a regional government," said Mr Hague.

He warned them to beware of the "vote for Yorkshire" argument and clearly state No to a regional government in the referendum in October.

Both he and county councillor John Blackie argued that a Yes vote was liable to lead to increased regionalisation and the marginalisation of rural areas.

The latter had already been raised by Nigel Philips during his presentation for the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service. He said that at present their control room operators knew the area they covered well and a fire engine could be mobilised within 60 seconds.

But that could change if they were incorporated into a larger region and the number a control room might handle was increased 100pc. He was also concerned that in a larger region rural areas would be in a minority and would get less money, a view supported by both Mr Hague and Coun Blackie.

Coun Blackie pointed out that they had struggled to get even 6pc of the regional resources allocated to North Yorkshire by Yorkshire Forward and yet they had 11pc of the population. They had been allocated £47m compared to the £246m for South Yorkshire.

"Yorkshire Forward is not interested in Leyburn," he said. "This town doesn't qualify to be included in their market town initiative because it only has a population of about 2,5000.

"The minimum market town population it is interested in is 10,000."

There was concern at the meeting that people would be confused during the referendum by the fact that there were two questions. The first would be a straight yes or no to having a regional government. The second related to the type of local government they wanted if they had said yes.

Mr Hague agreed it was a classic case of divide and rule, but he had faith in the healthy cynicism of Yorkshire folks.

* Pupils upstage MP: page 14

* Hospital secure: page