WHEN the Labour Government was elected to power in May 1997, after so many years in the political wilderness, there was genuine hope that the needs of the North-East would be fairly addressed.

A Prime Minister with a North-East constituency was supported by several key colleagues representing this great region.

Five years on, and the North-South divide is getting wider rather than narrower. The North is more than just a poor cousin, it is on its raggy knees.

Yesterday's report by the Institute for Public Policy Research warns that the fortunes of the North will fall further behind those of the South unless urgent action is taken at Government level.

How long then can the Government keep on ducking calls for a meaningful review of the decades-old Barnett Formula, which dictates funding to the regions, was designed to help areas in greatest need, and yet discriminates against the North-East?

Why do we continue to see a blind obsession with investing in housing and transport infrastructure in the already overcrowded South-East while there is a glaring need for that trend to be reversed?

And when will we see the Government taking the lead by following-up on its headline-grabbing ambition to relocate major departments to the North?

The danger, of course, is not to be seen as a region of whingers. We're not whingeing, Mr Blair - look at the statistics.