CALLS for a regional assembly were repeated at a seminar in the region yesterday.

Durham County Cricket Club's Riverside ground, at Chester-le-Street, held the event, organised by the North East Regional Assembly, which looked at ways of breaking away from Westminster control.

Delegates agreed to set up a working party to speed up the possible move towards devolution.

Assembly director Stephen Barber said: "It is clear that the debate over how we move forward in developing the regional agenda in the North-East - and indeed the rest of England - is at a critical stage.

"This working party of 12 people will drive forward on the key themes of defining what regional government might mean."

The next meeting of the North East Regional Assembly is on Friday, December 15, at County Hall, Morpeth, Northumberland, where local government minister Hilary Armstrong will speak