DEPUTY Prime Minister John Prescott is being urged to scrap a Yorkshire regional assembly referendum.
The call came after a three-to-one vote against an assembly in the north-east.
Kirklees Council Tory group leader Clr Robert Light said a poll due in Yorkshire should now be called off.
He said: "We have said all along that the regional assembly proposals have been a gimmick and a waste of time.
"This north-east result gives a clear message. From a turnout of almost 50%, 80% have said an emphatic `No'.
"This must mean that the proposals for Yorkshire and Humberside are now completely dead – and John Prescott's baby will never be conceived."
Referenda in both Yorkshire and the north-west had been expected to follow the north-east poll.
But their future is now uncertain after Thursday's decisive vote.
Assembly supporters said it did not mark the end of plans for regional government.
Julian Cummins, deputy chairman of Yes4 Yorkshire, said: "We're sorry to see the no vote, not least of all because of all the hard work done by campaigners over the years.
"But this does echo the no votes in Scotland and Wales in 1979. Twenty years later they came back with firm Yes votes.
"We expect Yes votes in the future in our regions."
All 23 council areas in the north-east returned a no vote in the all-postal ballot.
The region had been hand-picked as the area where support for an assembly was regarded to be at its strongest.
The result is seen as a personal humiliation for Mr Prescott who has championed the cause of regional government.
