Leaders of East and West Sussex County Councils today vowed to fight any Government bid to replace them with a South-East "mini-parliament".

Their pledge came as ministers were launching long-awaited plans to give English regions their own assemblies.

Under the plans, county councils in the region could be replaced by a super-authority with powers covering economic development, transport, waste management and planning.

A White Paper, being launched by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Local Government Secretary Stephen Byers, will offer each region the choice of its own assembly in a referendum before the next election.

But the plans came under fire from the leaders of both Sussex county councils.

West Sussex leader Harold Hall warned ministers they faced "vigorous opposition" if it tried to abolish county councils.

Councillor Hall said he was determined to fight any plans to introduce a regional assembly, claiming the public did not want it.

Coun Hall and other senior Tory councillors believe regional government would be more expensive and remote.

He said: "It is difficult to make out a good case for regional government in the South-East it and I do not think it will have the support of the public."

Coun Hall added that county councils should stay because they were more in touch with the people they represented.

He said: "A lot of people will see regional assemblies as this Labour Government trying to introduce the European influence into local government and they will be very against it."

East Sussex leader Peter Jones said local people were against the idea.

He said: "I think it is a bureaucratic nightmare. It will cost the public a lot of money and will not provide them with better services."

Councillor Jones said he thought the Government was unlikely to introduce a South-East regional assembly in the foreseeable future.

But he warned: "If they do then, yes, we would fight them. We have a stable model of local government."

Mr Prescott has said devolving power to the regions has been his decades-long "political dream" and will end a "democratic deficit" in England.

The White Paper, Your Region, Your Choice: Revitalising the English Regions, puts into effect Labour's manifesto commitment to offer referenda, as the Government did in Scotland and Wales, to the English regions.

Ministers hope the creation of elected regional assemblies will help tackle voter apathy in the wake of another poor turnout in last week's local elections.

Polling has suggested the public, particularly in the north of England, supports the idea of regional assemblies.

A survey carried out for the BBC by Opinion Research Business in March found that 63 per cent of people were in favour of devolution for the English regions.

But whether enthusiasm would be high in the South-East remains to be seen.