CAMPAIGNERS have to win over the ordinary man on the street if devolution is to come to the North-East, the leader of the Welsh Assembly said last night.

Rhodri Morgan was speaking to supporters of regional government in Gateshead about how devolution had benefited the people of Wales.

He said: "It is very important to enthuse the average man in the street that this is not a chattering class issue but an issue for ordinary people.

"The North-East is very similar to Wales where, unlike Scotland, the chattering class is insignificant, so you have to persuade the ordinary working class person."

In its two-year life, he said the Welsh Assembly had introduced free bus passes for pensioners, frozen prescription charges, made dental checks free and employed a children's commissioner.

It was running a pilot scheme in 20 schools to explore the benefits of a wider, baccalaureate-style education.

He said: "Our proudest moment in the assembly was bringing back free school milk for under seven-year-olds, and being able to say what Margaret Thatcher took away, the Welsh Assembly restored today. That's practical stuff.

"These are little things, but people can see the assembly has done something for them."

Like the North-East, which is divided between Tyne and Tees, Welsh devolution campaigners faced a province that was split between north and south.

Mr Morgan said: "The North Walians thought they would be dictated to by the south; the South Walians thought they would be forced to speak Welsh by the north.

"It was the fear of change, and now the voice of North Wales is bound to be louder in an assembly where it accounts for 30 per cent of the representatives, rather than in the UK where it is just one per cent."

He said devolution would also bring a fairer share of Government spending to the North-East.

The region's own version of the Barnett formula, which allocates Government money to Scotland and Wales, would have to be devised.

Mr Morgan finished by telling the Campaign for a North-East Assembly: "Devolution is delivering for Wales. Whether something similar would work for the North-East is a question for people here.

"But we have shown what can be achieved when politicians have to respond more closely to the needs and wishes of the people they answer to."