THE Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is known for his occasional reluctance to engage with his critics, other than with his fists of course.

But his office's decision to ignore North Yorkshire in planning a series of public consultation meetings on regional government is breathtaking in its arrogance.

We suspect Mr Prescott's team, charged with pushing through his regionalisation agenda, has settle upon this as a deliberate strategy. It believes the best chance of winning the regional government referendum later this year is to keep unsympathetic parts of the county in the dark.

Getting the debate going in the urban areas will mobilise whatever support there may be there. Conversely, not encouraging debate in rural areas means it is less likely that the anti-campaign will get going and thus the potential "no" vote will stay at home. When the referendum result approves an assembly on a pathetically low turnout, the Prescott team will say that rural Yorkshire had the chance but didn't care sufficiently to make its voice heard.

The Darlington & Stockton Times serves notice today that this scenario will not come about. We will not allow the people of North Yorkshire to be hoodwinked into this disastrous experiment in bureaucratic nonsense. Watch this space.