Like other members of the local media in the North of England, I have received telephone calls urging me to attend speeches calling for a vote in favour of directly elected regional assemblies.
 Nick Raynsford, MP, urged Yorkshire to vote Yes |
It is all part of a string of high profile public events being held in theatres and conferences centres in virtually every city throughout the North of England this spring.
Anyone attending them will be left in no doubt that a lot of time, money and professional expertise has been spent putting them on.
But what is causing anger among opponents of devolution for the three Northern Regions is that these events are not organised by the official Yes campaigns.
In fact, the bill for the entire exercise is being met by the taxpayer.
Government initiative?
The Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott or the Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford are taking turns on the platform telling us how much better off we will be with devolved assemblies.
Even those original telephone calls I received were from a staff press officer in the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber.
 "Yes Campaign" is, possibly, illegal. |
"It is a disgrace," says John Watson, the leader of the Campaign.
"At best it is immoral but it is quite probably illegal.
"This is taxpayer's money being spent in a partisan way before the campaigns for next referenda have even got under way"
That view was shrugged off without even a second thought by Nick Raynsford before he took centre stage at a recent event held in the main lecture theatre at Sheffield's Hallam University.
"I am a Minister and it is my job to explain the issues behind this important piece of Government policy which will benefit 15m people who live in the three regions here in the North of England.
"We are calling these events 'Public Hearings' because it is open to any member of the public to come and ask us about any aspect of our devolution policy."
 It is the duty of a minister to explain Government policy |
The Minister did field a whole range of questions including some sceptical of the promised benefits. But that was after a 40 minute opening address which was an unashamed one sided campaign speech in favour of devolution.
No campaign represented
John Watson and a small group of No campaigners joined the 150 or so people who turned up in Sheffield and threw a few hostile questions from the public seats.
But afterwards he fumed about the entire event.
"The Government is already spending thousands promoting the assemblies," he told me.
"What is more, the Yes campaign has already had years of funding from trade unions and a few other like-minded sources.
"We have had nothing and that is totally unacceptable.
"Both campaigns will get public funding for the official campaigns in the few weeks before the referenda but that won't be until the autumn."
As John Watson and I spoke, leaflets were being handed out to members of the public streaming out of the lecture theatre.
They were being handed out by members of the Yes campaign.
The Government's series of Public Hearings continues in Hull on Thursday, April 1, 2004.
The Politics Show for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, presented by Len Tingle, is on Sunday from 12 noon on BBC1.
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