LAST night's devastating rejection of an elected regional assembly left campaigners looking for scapegoats and a new way forward for the North-East.

There was agreement that the No campaign had fought a clever, simple and forceful campaign that had tapped into the public's distrust of politicians at all levels. Its large inflatable white elephant had become the enduring image of the campaign, and Yes was never able to come up with anything to match it.

But there was also a feeling that the proposals the Government was offering had no real meaning. Talk of "regional spatial strategies" was too vague to excite much enthusiasm. And no politician who stumbled across the patch during the campaign, from the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, was able to give an example of a day-to-day decision taken in Westminster that would, in the future, be taken by a North-East assembly.

Professor John Tomaney, leader of the Yes campaign, said: "The proposal to create a regional assembly was quite a complex idea and we failed to demonstrate how it would benefit people as individuals.

"It was a difficult task made more difficult by the limited powers which people perceived to be on offer. We were promising them jam tomorrow as the powers weren't strong, but we hoped they would grow in time."

Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat regional affairs spokesman, said: "Labour produced a half-baked set of proposals. There were no real powers over transport, skills and training or the environment."

Graham Robb, spokesman for the No campaign, blamed the style of his opponents' campaign. "We fought a spirited, tenacious campaign and we saw the Yes campaign unravel from positivity into smear and scare. They have a great deal of responsibility for the loss. They had the egos; we had the argument.

"They thought celebrities shine, but real people are dull."

Joyce Quin, the Gateshead East and Washington West MP who was tipped as a potential leader of an assembly, said: "It was a very difficult, even in a lengthy campaign, to meet enough voters to explain a complicated message. The No campaign was a very simple one: that it was costly and there were no powers. I was struck that people were still saying to me right up to the last day 'what is an assembly going to do?'.

"There is an anti-politician mood about."

Ross Forbes, a spokesman for the Yes campaign, said: "We were faced with a relentlessly negative campaign focused on more council tax and more politicians, and it is probably a sign of the times that people bought these simple messages.

"This has changed nothing. We still have the status quo.

"The Yes campaign will now disappear, but the North-South divide still remains. The fact that we are only creating half the number of jobs that the South creates remains. The fact that our young people are leaving the region remains.

"We have set alight a debate about the future of this region which needs to be resolved."

Mr Robb said: "The answer is not more Government, it is more meaningful devolution.

"We have had the entire political establishment, the trade unions and many sections of the media against us and the Labour campaign machine thrown at us. Tonight's result is a wholesale rejection of the status quo they represent."

LibDem Ed Davey said: "I don't think this has been a real true test of the case for regional democracy. The LibDems are now calling for a convention of the North, with representatives of the three regions of the North to come together to discuss the implications of this referendum and the Government's failed proposal for the future of regional democracy."

George Cowcher, the chief executive of North-East Chamber of Commerce, said: "The electorate was unconvinced by the under-strength proposals for an elected assembly, which appeared to sell the region short. The Government must now formulate a new strategy to provide a real difference.

"We need a firm commitment to tackling the region's transport and skills issues as well as greater emphasis on creating new companies and supporting our existing business base."

Bill McGawley, chairman of the North-East Region of the Institute of Directors, said: "This result is unsurprising given that the Government's plans amounted to a costly expansion of bureaucracy."