- guardian.co.uk, Friday March 11 2005 09.24 GMT
The Conservatives are today expected to launch an attack on the deputy prime minister, John Prescott, for creating "regional tyranny" in local government.
Mr Pickles, shadow spokesman for local government, will tell the Conservative Councillors' Association annual conference in Brighton later today the deputy prime minister is acting like an "East European dictator" for transferring powers to unelected regional assemblies which have no democratic mandate.
His comparison of Mr Prescott to the former Rumanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu comes despite the Tory party's vehement and persistent opposition to Mr Prescott's attempts to replace these regional quangos with an elected tier of devolved government.
Following a resounding "no" vote in last year's north-east regional assembly referendum, Mr Prescott was forced to shelve his dream of seeing more power devolved locally to the proposed new tier of government.
Had the public voted for elected regional assemblies, regional quango powers would have been transferred to the new tier of devolved government.
Unelected regional assemblies undertake a number of strategic roles, including determining the number of traveller sites in a given region, and planning powers.
"Mr Prescott's disregard for the voice of the people bears the hallmark of East European dictators like Nicolae Ceausescu, and risks creating a 'regional tyranny' of governance with no legitimacy or accountability," Mr Pickles will say.
The party which introduced a proliferation of arms-length government organisations during its 18-year reign, is now on "the road to Damascus" and intends to perform a "U-turn" on the idea of unelected bodies delivering public services, Mr Pickles will tell delegates.
He will tell the one-day conference that the Conservative party is the new friend of local government.
Under a Tory government, the unelected regional assemblies' powers will be transferred down to councils, who will be set free to deliver services according to local need.
A Tory government will shake up the focus of local authority work, which sees two-thirds of councils' time tied up on working out how best to deliver a service rather than concentrating on what is actually delivered, Mr Pickles will add.
