JOHN Prescott today launched a massive campaign to persuade people in the north west to give their verdict on plans for a mini parliament - with the help of the Beatles.
Later in the year there will be a referendum on government plans for an elected regional assembly and the "yes" and "no" campaigns will try to get their message across in the meantime.
The Deputy Prime Minister was at the Pyramid Arts Centre in Warrington to launch a series of newspaper, TV, and radio adverts - the centre piece of which will be a 30-second TV spot featuring north west voters verdicts on the proposals - and a clip from a Beatles song.
It is "Hello, Goodbye" with the crucial line "You Say Yes, I Say No."
Mr Prescott's launch is being overshadowed by complaints from the "No" campaign that he is "wasting" '5m of taxpayers cash on what they call a propaganda campaign.
The chairman of the No campaign, Sir David Trippier, said that families would be furious at the waste of money which should be spent on schools, hospitals, police and transport.
"The last person who should be fronting an impartial information exercise on regional assemblies is John Prescott as he is the prime mover behind them.
Awareness
"It is a scandal for Mr Prescott to pour such enormous sums of public money into such a biased campaign," said Sir David.
But the Office of the Deputy Prime minister insisted the whole exercise would be "even handed". The centre piece of the campaign, to be launched today is a vox pop of people in the north west being interviewed about their views of the plans to set up a mini parliament.
The adverts will urge people to log on to the "your say" website.
"The aim is to raise awareness of the questions around regional assemblies and make people aware of the opportunity to vote later this year," said a spokesman for Mr Prescott.
"Its an information campaign - The Yes and No groups have to go out and convince people how they should vote," added the spokesman.
Mr Prescott's deputy, Nick Raynsford, told MPs recently that the information campaign would cost up to '5m including '1.7m for production and distribution of leaflets and nearly '500,000 for newspaper adverts.
Meanwhile, in the commons, the Congleton Tory MP, Ann Winterton, claimed that setting up a mini parliament in the north west could leave the 76 MPs who represent consituencies in the region out in the cold.
She claimed in the commons that if voters give the go ahead to the regional assembly, its 35 members would eventually turn away from Westminster and toward Brussels, dealing directly with the European Commission.
But Mr Raynsford, the minister for regional government, said the plans were nothing to do with Brussels.
He said it would cost '30m to set up the north west parliament, with running costs of '25m a year, but it would handle decisions worth '2.6bn.
What do you think of plans for a regional assembly?
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How many more attempts will John Prescott make to launch an elected Regional Assembly? Each time it sinks like a stone. Last try we had a PR stunt inviting us to design a flag for the unwanted talking shop, as if a Yes vote were a foregone conclusion. (In your dreams!) My own design showed a hot air balloon bedecked with red tape and supported by two porkers rampant waving top hats and clutching champagne bottles. Now Mr Prescott, fresh from his postal votes fiasco, has called on the Beatles for support with: 'You Say Yes, I Say No'. Another Beatles hit would be more appropriate: 'Help! I Need Somebody! Help!'
Just another gravy train for the fat bloated bureaucrats to catch leaving the tax paying public left on the platform to struggle along with no real representation of their views or needs.
How about restoring all the county councils and getting rid of these small district and borough councils, have an eleceted ALL England assembly/parliament like the other 3 countries of the UK have and then maybe I will consider a yes vote. I refuse to allow England to be carved up like a peice of meat. All Europe seem to want to do is irradicate Englands exsistance as a country and it stinks. Yes I am aware that England misses out on alot of Euro monry but why can't we have an ALL England assembly? And population has nothing to do with it in my eyes. It's just another system of politics, another waste of public money at the demands of Europe.
... say NO
NO to even higher council taxes as we support even more council jobs and bureaucracy than we have now. Do you really want to pay even more than you do now each month to support the paper pushers in teh town halls??
i have read the leaflet produced by johnny two jags, what a waste of time. the leaflet tells you nothing, notice how it was issued before further plans are put before parliament with more details. also check the date it goes before parliament 22 july 2004, last day of term for the mps, before they break up for summer recess (3 months by the way). therfore there can be no political debate in parliament until october - 1 month before ballot takes place. this has been deliberately timed this way. say NO to the regional assembly.