NORTH-EAST home rule campaigners will today be given a thinly-veiled "get real" message by Regions Minister Hilary Armstrong.

The Durham North-West MP will warn that many people in the region still need to be convinced of the need for a directly-elected regional assembly.

But she insisted last night that she was not contradicting Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who earlier this week reaffirmed his belief in regional government in the regions.

Talk of a split between her and Mr Prescott, her boss, was ''absolute nonsense'', Ms Armstrong told The Northern Echo.

The Regions Minister will meet the North-East Regional Assembly, the non-elected body set up partly to monitor the work of the One NorthEast development agency, today.

At a meeting at Morpeth, Northumberland, assembly chairman Mike Davey will set out a position statement on regional government.

North-East devolution campaigners believe that the region was neglected by Whitehall during the Thatcher years.

Mr Prescott this week quoted the Thatcher legacy to underline his belief in extending devolution from Scotland and Wales to elsewhere in the UK.

He told MPs: "We believe in decentralisation because we saw the damage brought about by a highly-centralised Thatcher government."