'REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE IS THE KEY'

5 MAY 2002

Congratulations to all the successful candidates in the Council election last week. But congratulations above all to the Council staff who organized the postal vote, and to the people of South Tyneside for responding so positively to the new initiative. It shows that when we try and do something different, and do it well, it works.

I think we can honestly say we have set a trend that will change democracy for ever. Twice as many people voted this year as last, and that in itself is a triumph. I look forward to the day when all elections, including General Elections, are done on a postal basis.

'Power to the people' is an old slogan but it is right. When people feel disempowered, they can turn to the snake-oil salesmen of the far Right. That, I think, is the lesson both from here and other European countries where essentially fascist parties are trying to play on fear and insecurity. The answer is to ensure people feel they do have a real say in deciding the issues that matter to them.

The Government will take a further step down the road to strengthening our democracy when they publish a consultation document that will pave the way for the North East to have its own regional assembly, with a 'Prime Minister' for the North East, as exists in other European countries.

I am not one who believes that more elections necessarily means more satisfaction on the part of voters. But I do believe that our prosperity in South Tyneside depends to some extent on regional decisions, and the case for regional government is that it is better that those key decisions have some democratic accountability.

I think there are four tests for the White Paper, due to be published tomorrow. First, are the proposals offering genuine decentralization. In other words, do they take accountability away from Ministers in Whitehall, and hand it over to elected people in the North East. I do not favour regional government that takes power away from local government, which should remain the bedrock of community services.

Second, do the proposals give a clear focus to the activities of the regional government? I believe that the key issue for all of us is economic regeneration, and I want to see regional government concentrating its efforts on the dimensions of economic renewal - from planning to transport to skills and also to the increasingly important culture and arts. If regional government tries to run everything it will succeed at nothing.

Third, will the proposals deliver a genuinely regional perspective, as opposed to a collection of local arguments transferred to the regional level. Regional government should be about getting a holistic view of the interests of the North East, and not about arguments between South and North of the river, or between Tyne and Tees. We need regional government to take tough decisions, not take the lowest common denominator in the name of keeping everyone happy.

Finally, the proposals must ensure that we do not have bureaucracy and cost that puts people off politics and gives democracy a bad name. We should have a smaller rather than larger regional assembly. The Labour manifesto promised that regional government would not be another tier of government, but instead offer democratic audit of decisions already taken at regional level by unaccountable bodies. That must be kept clearly in view.

The North East has great potential. But we either pull together or hang separately. Regional government must help us do the former. If it does, we will look back in ten years and ask how we ever survived without it.