FORMER MP Lord Waddington has warned that a North-West Regional Assembly would leave East Lancashire at the mercy of Manchester and Merseyside urban interests.

The former Tory Home Secretary and Leader of the House of Lords said the plan proposed by the government was "terrible".

Lord Waddington said rural areas such as his old constituency of Ribble Valley would lose out worst.

During a House of Lords debate on the Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill, which paves the way for a new North West mini-Parliament - on an amendment demanding a reasonable turn out in any referendum on the issue -he said: "I do not believe that radical constitutional change should be brought about in this country on a low turnout by a narrow majority of people.

"There should be a clearly demonstrable surge of support for the sort of constitutional change that is envisaged by the Bill.

"It is a terrible Bill because it sets about undermining the very careful balance that we now have in local government.

"The county councils are a living demonstration of the fact that we have machinery to ensure that the countryside interest is properly acknowledged and represented.

"I have said many times before that one only has to look at what would happen in the North West to see what an abominable proposal this is.

"There is no way that there can be an elected body for the whole of the North West region without ensuring that that elected body would be dominated entirely by urban interests."