THE Northern Echo welcomes the news that the Government will announce today that the North-East and Yorkshire are to hold referendums on whether they fancy regional government.

Some may say it is about time too, given that this was one of Labour's manifesto ideas in 1997. Six years on, and we have barely progressed to first base.

That lack of progress is what makes our welcome of the referendum rather a cautious one. Because, as yet, we still don't really know what we are voting for.

We agree with the principle of regional government - the North-East, as Alan Milburn has discovered, is a long way from London and regularly gets overlooked. The region needs a louder voice - but will regional government just provide it with a talking shop?

Chancellor Gordon Brown has created five tests that need to be passed before Britain joins the euro. Here are five questions that need to be answered before we can whole-heartedly join calls for a "yes" to regional government:

* What exactly will this body do? It is not enough just to say it will have power over transport, for example. Voters will want to know if it will be able to upgrade the A1 and the A66 or whether it will be able to get a proper Channel Tunnel rail link? Or will it just talk about these things?

* What will it do for job creation? One NorthEast and Yorkshire Forward are already operating. In what practical ways will an elected regional assembly improve these regional development agencies' performances?

* How much will this body cost? North-East and Yorkshire people are, above all, practical and will vote "no" if they fear an expensive bureaucracy and a luxurious premises is going to come out of their council tax.

* How are the county councils going to be reorganised? If the idea of regional government is to bring power closer to the people, the control of everyday services cannot be allowed to disappear further into the distance.

* Where is it going to be based? Although a little disappointed, the south of the region was not particularly concerned about Newcastle/Gateshead's failure to win the capital of culture title because it seemed primarily to be about something happening on Tyneside. In the North-East, regional government has to look after matters on Wearside and Teesside as well, so where the assembly is based will be symbolic of whether the assembly is just another Newcastle-orientated body. The North-East assembly therefore has to be based in Durham City.