The Tories will today attack Labour's plans for elected regional assemblies.

David Davies, Shadow spokesman for the Office of Deputy Prime Minister, will ridicule John Prescott's proposals as "taking power away from people" instead of giving it to them.

However, he may hint that the Conservatives will drop their opposition to Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), such as One NorthEast and Yorkshire Forward, which channel Government funds into deprived areas.

A senior northern Tory MP told The Northern Echo last night: "I think we may be willing to work with RDAs, but we are totally opposed to regional government."

This will be welcome news to John Bridge, chairman of One NorthEast, who held a fringe meeting in Bournemouth last night.

He said: "We are here to get RDAs on the Tory agenda. What we are fighting is their current policy of getting rid of RDAs."

One reason for a possible shift in policy is that many Conservative businessmen in the North-East, while not agreeing with all the RDAs have done, accept there is a need for them.

"We have been delivering for three and a half years now," Dr Bridge said.