THE decision to postpone the regional referendum on an elected North West Regional Assembly came as no surprise to Chamber Business Connections.

The postponement follows a recent survey carried out among companies in North Manchester which found that the referendum result was too close to call.

Chamber Business Connections say that although the date for the vote had only recently been set, speculation was rife that rumours of voter indifference and a lack of clarity on the powers of the assembly meant a victory was far from certain.

Last month, the Chamber consulted members and found there was nothing to split the numbers who planned to vote yes from those that would have voted no.

Of the 314 responses received, just more than 50 per cent of respondents indicated they would have registered a vote. A total of 39 per cent said they were undecided on whether they would have voted and 11 per cent indicated they had not planned to vote.

Amazingly, the yes and no votes of those who would definitely be voting ended in a dead heat, increasing the likelihood of what the Chamber labelled "a potentially embarrassing defeat" for the Government.

Perhaps, tellingly, only 34 per cent of respondents believed they had enough information to make an informed decision on how to vote.

Paul Foster, policy and communications executive of Chamber Business Connections, said: "The decision to postpone the Regional Government referendum in the north west is the right one.

"Although the Government has marketed the referendum on a thumbs up, thumbs down campaign, it always wanted a yes vote which our survey showed was far from certain. The decision to go ahead with the referendum in the north east, where support is stronger, backs this up."