Referendum suspension is “death knell”, says No campaign
The directors of the campaigns against regional assemblies have said the decision to suspend two referendums is a “death knell” to the project.
John Prescott announced yesterday that he would be suspending plans to hold autumn referendums in Yorkshire and Humber and the North West.
The ballot in the third region, the North East, will go ahead as planned on 4th November.
Mr Prescott cited concerns about the all-postal ballots in these regions in the June elections, and said that the Government would wait for the publication of the Electoral Commission’s report into the June elections, expected at the end of August.
The Deputy Prime Minister was emphatic though that the referendums would go ahead at some point.
Brian Morris, director of the North West Says NO campaign, told politics.co.uk: “I don’t think this is a delay. This is a decision to scrap the referendum.”
He was certain there would not be a referendum before the next general election, and after that it was doubtful there would be the political will to push it through. Mr Morris argued that it would depend on Mr Prescott’s position after the election, adding: “Who knows where the Deputy Prime Minister will be? He’s not getting any younger.”
Mr Morris said the decision had been taken not because of concerns over postal voting, but for pragmatic political reasons.
“This referendum was pulled because they knew they were going to lose the vote,” he said.
The North East NO Campaign said the decision to go ahead with a referendum in the North East while holding off in the North West and in Yorkshire and Humber was inconsistent and showed “contempt” for the region’s inhabitants.
Campaign director Neil Herron said the Government had “told more lies than Pinocchio” in claiming that the concerns over postal voting affecting the other two regions were not relevant to the North East.
Mr Herron claimed that in the June elections more than 600,000 ballot papers had not been delivered until July 1, some seven days after the due date. On top of that, 28,000 ballots had been rejected or spoilt, and there had been widespread reports of people filling in papers on behalf of others.
Mr Herron questioned how the Government could decide before seeing the Electoral Commission’s recommendations, and labelled the decision “inconsistent”. The North East referendum received the go-ahead in order to avoid a “most embarrassing reverse”, he added.
He told politics.co.uk: “This was a political decision based on the fact that they faced defeat in the other two referendums.”
However, he was confident that the No campaign would win the referendum.
“They [the Government] think they have a chance, but this is a complete non-starter . They face a thrashing,” he said.
“We are very confident that the North East public will realise that this is an absolute dog’s breakfast . an absolute disgrace.”
