Community secretary Eric Pickles has confirmed the Government intends to abolish the eight remaining Government offices for the regions in England, subject to using the autumn spending review to resolve consequential issues.
The 13 sponsor departments will meanwhile work on transition arrangements etc.. Abolition of the Government Office for London has already been announced.
"The case for elected regional government was overwhelmingly rejected by the people in the 2004 North East referendum," said Mr Pickles.
"Unelected regional government equally lacks democratic legitimacy, and its continuing existence has created a democratic deficit."
He accused the government offices of being "agents of Whitehall to intervene and interfere in localities and of bieng a fundamental part of the command-and-control apparatus of England's over-centralized state".
