North East England devolution referendum, 2004

North East England devolution referendum, 2004
You can help to decide whether there should be an elected assembly in the North East region. If an elected assembly is to be established, it is intended that: the elected assembly would be responsible for a range of activities currently carried out mainly by central government bodies, including regional economic development; and local government would be reorganised into a single-tier in those parts of the region that currently have both county and district councils. Should there be an elected assembly for the North East region?
Location	North East England
Date	4 November 2004
Results Votes % Yes 197,310 7001220700000000000♠22.07% No 696,519 7001779300000000000♠77.93% Valid votes 893,829 7001986200000000000♠98.62% Invalid or blank votes 12,538 7000137990000099999♠1.38% Total votes 906,367 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 1,899,742 7001477100000000000♠47.71%
Results by local authority   Yes     No

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You can help to decide whether there should be an elected assembly in the North East region.

If an elected assembly is to be established, it is intended that:

The North East England devolution referendum was an all postal ballot referendum that took place on 4 November 2004 throughout North East England on whether or not to establish an elected assembly for the region. Devolution referendums in the regions of Northern England were initially proposed under provisions of the Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Act 2003. Initially, three referendums were planned, but only one took place. The votes concerned the question of devolving limited political powers from the UK Parliament to elected regional assemblies in North East England, North West England and Yorkshire and the Humber respectively. Each were initially planned to be held on 4 November 2004, but on 22 July 2004 the planned referendums in North West England and in Yorkshire and the Humber were postponed, due to concerns raised about the use of postal ballots, but the referendum in North East England was allowed to continue, particularly as it was assumed that the region held the most support for the proposed devolution.

On 4 November 2004, voters in the North East rejected the proposal, in an all-postal ballot, by 77.9% to 22.1%, on a turnout of 48%. Every council area in the region had a majority for "no". The referendum was held in what was arguably Labour's strongest region within the United Kingdom. It can be argued that ministers were complacent, and perhaps arrogant, and expected a resounding "yes" vote. The actual "no" vote rejected the arguments put forward in favour of devolution, and was a personal humiliation for the then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who had promoted the referendum, with the full support of the government led by Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had personally campaigned for a "yes" vote. In total more than £11 million of public money had been spent on the project. The defeat marked the end of the Labour Government's policy of devolution for England, and the other proposed referendums for the North West and for Yorkshire and the Humber were dropped indefinitely. This would be the last major devolution referendum to be held in any part of the United Kingdom under the Labour Government of 1997–2010.

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