Last week Middlesborough MP Stuart Bell argued that a North-East Assembly would not command support in Teesside and Darlington. Today David Walsh, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, says why an assembly is good news for the Tees Valley.

JOHN Prescott has promised a new vision for regions like the North-East, with greater powers of self-government and self-determination through a directly elected regional assembly. Stuart Bell argues that, while the concept may look fine on paper, he doubts the substance. He feels there is no real comparison between the North-East and those parts of the UK, like Scotland and Wales, which have gained self-rule, and that any regional assembly would be run purely for and by Tyneside interests.

I do not seek to mock Stuart's argument. I can respect caution. But I think it is an argument both profoundly wrong and profoundly pessimistic. Both Scotland and Wales have gained immeasurably by having their own legislature.

Yes, it is true, these fledgling administrations can make mistakes and commit errors - but they are now errors made by people who can be removed by the voters and not by people who are both anonymous and virtually unsackable.

They have united Scotland and Wales in a way that would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Then Scotland's voice in the corridors of power was always the voice of the Strathclyde conurbation. Now the Borders, Fife, Tayside and the Highlands can argue with the same power as the politicians of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

This analogy holds true for the North-East. There cannot be a meaningful North-East without the people of Teesside and Darlington. We represent a specific, proud and strong component of this region. We are home to the region's industrial heartland. The GDP of the region comes not from the offices, banks, wine bars and nightclubs of Newcastle, but from the giant array of chemical plants owned by the biggest names in the world, that stretch down to the mouth of the River Tees.

There are rivalries in the North-East. But they are healthy rivalries based on a mutual respect of the innate qualities of our people and of our capacities.

A North-East Assembly will help to liberate those qualities and that capacity in a democratic fashion. We can find our self-respect and self-esteem through taking into our own hands those powers presently managed on our behalf by both unelected civil servants and by quangoes.

It will challenge our existing politicians - both local councillors and MPs. But is this not a good thing in itself? Let's not get bogged down in internecine warfare or spend our time looking over our shoulders to see what the other fellow is doing. Let us simply do what is the best for our region and for our people. After all, it's in our hands now.