RAY Mallon came out fighting yesterday for a Yes vote for a regional assembly, and hinted that he would consider standing for it.

The directly-elected mayor of Middlesbrough said the region needed strong leadership and, with no other option on the table, a regional assembly was the best way forward.

"This region needs to become confident, assertive and on occasions aggressive, because the market place is aggressive, and therefore leadership is required," he said. "At the present time, that leadership can only come from a regional assembly."

Mr Mallon is likely to be the Yes campaign's champion in the south of the region, while Sir John Hall, the property developer and former chairman of Newcastle United, will champion it in the north.

Mr Mallon put forward a strong case for the leader of any assembly to directly-elected by the people rather than chosen by the political party that wins the most seats.

He conceded that the assembly plan which the public will vote on in a referendum on November 4 is not perfect, but said: "A regional assembly would be better than what we have now because we haven't anything at the present time.

"In my view, for many years this region has not been harmonised and as a result we haven't punched our weight."

He also believes that an assembly would cut red tape.

"As an elected mayor, I will go to the assembly leader and tell him what we need," he said. "At the moment, I speak to my chief executive or One NorthEast or Government Office North-East, and then they go off and speak to their people and it's a waste of time."

Mr Mallon even became the first politician to give a concrete example of how an elected assembly might take a decision currently made by quango in London.

After taking a 12 months of agonising, Whitehall civil servants have just rejected planning applications to build supermarkets in Cannon Park and Middlehaven, in Middlesbrough. Both supermarkets would have acted as focal points for regeneration and sucked in further investment.

"Instead, we are back to the drawing board," said Mr Mallon. "If there had been a regional assembly, it would have been decided within the North-East and I'm sure we would have got one passed."

On whether he would stand for an assembly, he said: "I have a contract for five years with the Middlesbrough people (until 2007) and I want to honour that contract.

"Clearly, if I was leader of a regional assembly I would have a conflict of interest. I see no reason why I couldn't stand and be a backbench member and elected mayor.

"I feel very comfortable being independent and I believe I will stay independent. There's no certainty as to whether I would stand and if I did stand there's no certainty as to whether it would be as Labour or an independent."

Professor John Tomaney, chair of Yes4TheNorthEast, welcomed Mr Mallon aboard the Yes campaign, but said: "A directly-elected assembly leader is an interesting idea, but that is a decision for Parliament and it is not on the table at the moment.

"What we do have is a unique opportunity to bring together a group of talented people who care about the North-East and will be able to make decisions that will improve people's lives."