A YORKSHIRE and Humber mini-parliament will cost the region's people £165m a year, it was claimed today.

British Chambers of Commerce warned the bill was too high.

Director-general David Frost said: "Business could support regional government in England if it were truly added value rather than just added bureaucracy.

"However, the current plans do not offer much more than an extra burden that will costs jobs."

Referendums on directly-elected regional assemblies are due late next year in the Yorkshire and the Humber region and also in the North East and North West.

Mr Frost warned there were still too many flaws and question marks in the plans.

He said: "Powers granted to the assemblies will be shared with other levels of the public sector, such as national government or local authorities.

"This will lead to conflict rather than clarity as we have already seen with London and transport disputes where the mayor sued the Government over the Tube and Westminster Council sued the mayor about congestion charging."

His warning came as a Labour Euro MP added his voice to the calls for the region to get its own assembly.

Richard Corbett said lessons drawn from the experiences of other countries indicated that Yorkshire and the Humber was an ideal candidate.

"Multi-level governance can open up government, allowing for local flexibility with different solutions tailored to different local needs," he said.