THE Government this week ruled out further referendums for regional assemblies following last week's overwhelming "No" vote in the North-East.

John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister, formally abandoned the postponed polls in Yorkshire and the North-West in a statement to MPs on Monday.

But he insisted it was wrong to claim voters had rejected a North-East Assembly because they were unhappy with the limited powers on offer.

Instead, he said the No campaign had successfully tapped into fears of another, expensive tier of local government - epitomised by the famous floating white elephant.

Mr Prescott said: "I don't think the issue of the powers was the main issue, quite frankly. There were issues about whether people wanted another layer of decision-making.

"That was the question that constantly came up. Does this mean another tier? Does this mean we are going to pay for it? Does it mean more politicians?

"The fact that I could show that it doesn't, didn't really matter.

"They had come to the conclusion they had and that was it, all summed up in the white elephant."

Conservative's called for him to go further and scrap the unelected regional assemblies, restoring power to local authorities.

But Mr Prescott said it was better, though unsatisfactory, for assemblies made up of indirectly elected councillors to make regional decisions, than to give more muscle to entirely unelected quangos.

William Hague, MP for Richmond and former Conservative leader, demanded an end to all local government shake-ups, which, he said, had always proved "vastly expensive with very few benefits."