Last week, as the campaign got under way, John Prescott's Office of the Deputy Prime Minister ended up with egg all over its face. It had to admit to putting out an inaccurate -- and possibly illegal -- leaflet: an error that it plans to rectify by issuing a further document that may also be illegal.

Then there was the curious way that the Electoral Commission chose to accredit one of the two rival "No" campaigns that could have been eligible to receive Government funding, in defiance of its own officials' advice and in a way that plays into the hands of Mr Prescott's "Yes" campaign.

For two years, the opposition in the fight against Mr Prescott's proposed assembly has been led by the "North East No" campaign run by Neil Herron, a Sunderland businessman. This group has a successful track record, not least in getting the Audit Commission to declare as illegal payments made by 25 local authorities to a body set up to issue propaganda for the elected assembly.

Two months ago, however, another group, "North East Says No", entered the arena. Originally masterminded from London by the Conservative Party, its main (and useful) achievement has been to win endorsement from a phalanx of local business leaders (including John Elliott, formerly chairman of the other "No" campaign).
Run and staffed by Tories, the group has no track record and its grasp of the issues appears to be minimal.
When applications were made to the Electoral Commission for official "designation", those responsible for examining the applications concluded that Herron's group better met the criteria.

Yet when the commission met last Monday to decide, their advice was overruled. On Tuesday, Mr Prescott thus had the best news he could have hoped for: the designation -- and £100,000 of taxpayers' money -- went to a campaign run by a party now so weak in the North-East region that it has only one MP.

If the referendum could be presented as a party battle, with a "No" campaign identified with the Conservatives (plus the UK Independence Party), this would be Mr Prescott's best chance of snatching victory against all odds.
As Mr Elliott shook hands with a visibly relieved Professor John Tomaney, the leader of the "Yes" campaign, after the announcement, it was scarcely a promising start. The North East Says No spokesman, a former Tory candidate, claimed that the campaigners were not opposed to an elected assembly in principle, and that if such an assembly were given more powers, they might support it.

Despite this setback, Mr Herron and his supporters are fighting on as a "people's campaign". Meanwhile, the shambles that Mr Prescott has made of his own campaign is compounded by the Government's admission that it made a serious factual error in its propaganda leaflet, Your Say, recently sent to every North-East voter, by seriously understating the cost of setting up a unitary local authority in Durham.

The ODPM now plans to issue a "clarification" letter, but only to voters in County Durham -- even though its earlier statement was sent to all 1.9 million voters, most of whom will thus be voting on the basis of what Mr Prescott's deputy, Nick Raynsford, admitted last Wednesday was erroneous information.
The ODPM knows that it is barredfrom sending out information during the 28 days before a referendum, but as its own website shows, this period ends 28 days before ballot papers go out on October 18th, not, as the ODPM is now pretending, 28 days before polling day (November 4th).

Furthermore, the ODPM's leaflet (which was not submitted for vetting to the Electoral Commission) is now the subject of investigation because of two, still more serious, errors. First, it claims that elections to the new assembly will be by proportional representation, although the Regional Assemblies Bill makes clear that two-thirds of the seats will be "first past the post".
It also claims that the assembly will be wholly independent of central government, when the Bill makes clear that in crucial respects it will be subject to Government control.

On Thursday, a formal complaint about these errors was lodged with the Audit Commission and the Electoral Commission by Mr Herron's "North East No" campaign. If this is upheld, it seems that, with only six weeks to go, Mr Prescott could face his biggest embarrassment yet.

Although party leaders are playing down the rebellion, fears are growing in Labour's hierarchy that forthcoming referendums, likely this autumn to test the mood for English devolution in the north-west, Yorkshire and the north-east, will expose damaging divisions six months before a likely general election.

Graham Stringer, the MP for Manchester Blackley, revealed that he had been urged by the party chairman, Ian McCartney not to rock the boat.
Mr Stringer went so far as to claim that the rebels were being encouraged by party whips -- while a cabinet minister he declined to name had urged him "to keep up the good work".

But leaders of a "yes for the north-west" campaign strongly disputed claims from the no lobby that it was developing stronger support within the party.

A leading member of the yes campaign, Ruth Turner, who is a member of Labour's national executive, claimed she had noticed strong support for English devolution when attending a recent meeting of the parliamentary Labour party. "It is not true to say the whips are encouraging the no lobby," she insisted.

"This is not only party policy nationally, but it has also been the policy of the north-west Labour party for many years. It is time for a change, a shift in political power to the regions, and it's not surprising that some MPs are nervous about that -- but the vast majority are very enthusiastic."

The no campaigners are hailing their latest recruit as a "major boost". Gwyneth Dunwoody, the MP for Crewe and Nantwich and chairman of the Commons transport committee, claimed in a statement, that the yes campaign was "too soon and premature". She added: "There is no public demand for these proposed changes and I am very unsure of any possible benefits".
Others rebels include the former Home Office minister George Howarth, MP for Knowsley North and Sefton West, Geraldine Smith (Morecambe and Lunesdale), Frank Field (Birkenhead), Ann Coffey (Stockport) and Gordon Prentice (Pendle).
 

In Leeds, the partners unveiled their "groundbreaking vision" calling it a "once in a lifetime opportunity to shape a more prosperous future". It is set out in a report produced for the RDAs entitled Moving Forward: The Northern Way, and aims to narrow the £29 billion "prosperity gap" between the North and other regions of England.

To achieve this, a team of experts in Leeds will oversee a programme of investment to boost business and employment, improve transport and housing and to market the North to the rest of the world. Representatives of the three agencies -- Yorkshire Forward, One NorthEast and Northwest Development Agency -- were at the report's launch, which was also broadcast to people in Newcastle and Warrington.

The Northern Way report outlines the agencies' joint strategy to work together towards economic growth. The new funding will go towards planning, and carrying out, some of the specific measures. Top priority is to create an "entrepreneurial culture" to help new businesses and research projects flourish and attract graduates and skilled employees.

It also aims to get more people into work, partly by offering more opportunities to the long-term unemployed and those on incapacity benefits to get 100,000 such people back into work. And it proposes that six key industry "clusters" -- chemicals, food and drink, advanced engineering, energy and environmental technologies, financial and professional services and logistics -- will get help to establish themselves in world markets.
The strategy also aims to improve the North's transport infrastructure, such as easing traffic on the A1(M) and the M62, improving public transport and improved access to airports and sea ports.