CAMPAIGNERS say they are disappointed after a referendum on a Yorkshire regional assembly was postponed.
The about-turn by the Government came just hours after a senior spokesman denied the all-postal vote would be delayed.
The hold-up is an embarrassment for Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
He has made the creation of regional assemblies - including one for Yorkshire and North and North-East Lincolnshire - the centrepiece of his plans for reform of local government.
A vote on a north-west England regional assembly is also being called off, but a poll in the north-east will go ahead as scheduled on November 4.
Doubts were raised after allegations of electoral fraud in all-postal ballots trialled in local government and European Parliament elections in June.
Lord Rooker, minister at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, said: "We are a listening Government.
"Except where there is a pressing expectation and support for an early all-postal referendum, we have concluded the right course now is not to proceed with the orders setting up referendums on November 4."
He said the Government would now wait for an Electoral Commission report on all-postal votes.
The Yes4Yorkshire campaign group said it was disappointed.
Jane Thomas, the campaign's director, said: "We are delighted that one region is being given the opportunity to put devolution to the test of the electorate, but obviously disappointed it will not be us here in Yorkshire."
Conservative regional government spokesman Bernard Jenkin said:
"It is little more than a cynical ploy to spare the Government's humiliation in regions where there is no public demand for another pointless layer of bureaucracy which would only take power even further away from local communities."
Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford told MPs a further statement would be made in September on how the Government plans to proceed.
