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Local and Regional Government

: I am not sure that I agree entirely with the hon. Gentleman's analysis, although I do not interpret the north-east's rejection of the Government's approach to devolution as a rejection of the concept of devolution or a rejection of the prospect of devolved power. It was, as I just said, a rejection of the Government's approach. My criticism is that it was typical of so much of the Government's control-freak approach elsewhere, which I also criticise, whereby they insist on deciding where the boundaries are, what powers the people of that region or Government zone will have, how those powers will be dispersed and to what timetable, when the referendum will take place and under what terms, and in what context everything will be carried out. I hope that they will learn lessons from the referendum in the north-east and not hide away under a stone, wondering what on earth they should do next, although I worry that that is what they are doing. As the hon. Gentleman rightly said, they should not interpret the referendum as a rejection of devolution itself.