AN East Lancashire MP wants to legislate for a minimum voting threshold for any referendum on an elected North West Assembly.

Gordon Prentice, MP for Pendle, hopes to succeed if he gets a private member's bill through to the House of Commons.

The last time he introduced a private member's bill - to give ramblers a right to roam on private land - it was picked up by the government and became the Countryside and Rights to Way Act 2000.

However this time he has only a limited chance of getting his Bill through because of a pressure of time in Parliament.

Mr Prentice, an opponent of regional government, said: "I've already been flooded with suggestions.

"I haven't settled on what I want yet but I am considering a short bill on thresholds for referendum votes.

"We have entered the age of referendums - on regional government, on the single currency and other matters.

"What I don't want to see is regional government and other important issues being decided by referendums with a derisory turnout.

"These matters are too important.

"We need to have a sensible minimum turn out. I've not decided what yet.

"I don't want to go into details until I've thought it through."