Michael Howard has called on the prime minister to "bury" all plans for regional government in England.

The Conservative leader made his call in the Commons in the wake of last week's overwhelming referendum vote against plans for an elected assembly in the North East.

Howard said the lesson was that people want "local government and less government, not more government".

And the existing eight English regional assemblies, which are comprised of local councillors, were shown to have "no popular support at all".

"When will the prime minister abolish them?" asked the Tory chief.

Tony Blair confirmed that the government would "abide by the vote" against the plans.

But he said that the government will not abolish the assemblies "because they perform the perfectly good task of coordinating policies in the regions".

Howard urged ministers to recognise that "people don't want important matters like housing and planning taken away" from local councils.

"The people have spoken, regional assemblies are dead," he said. "Why doesn't the prime minister bury them?"

The prime minister asked why Conservative councillors sit on the existing regional bodies, to which Howard, to cheers from his benches, said that they "have to manage the damage they do".