A CAMPAIGN for the north of England to join Scotland has attracted 12 supporters every five minutes since the General Election result was known.
The lead singer of cult rock band The Wildhearts Ginger Wildheart from Newcastle is among the latest backers of a petition which has now attracted over 37,000 signatures after stalling at around 5,000 before the Conservatives won a House of Commons majority in the election.
George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer is the only constituency MP from the north of England who has a seat in the new cabinet.
The campaign's stated aim was to ask Westminster to make the move saying that northern English "feel far greater affinity with their Scottish counterparts such as Glasgow and Edinburgh than with the ideologies of the London-centric south".
The petition first drawn up during the Scottish independence referendum has gained over 30,000 since the election.
Signatures to the petition demands secession from the UK.
It suggests the boundaries of Britain be realigned so that the border runs between the River Dee and the mouth of The Humber.
It would mean that cities such as Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester would be part of Scotland.
One of the latest signatories Stephen Caunce of Arnside, Cumbria said: "The industrial north has far more in common with Scotland than the globalised commuter lands of the south east. I'm all for it, personally, as an academic historian who has researched these issues.
Stacey Atkinson of Darlington added: "It sounds mad...but it makes a lot of sense. I'm in County Durham, and we are far closer to Scotland politically and culturally than we are the south of England."
And Jim Lowe of Newcastle upon Tyne said: "Culturally and politically I feel that the north east of England is far closer to Scotland than to the Home Counties. I don't want to live in a country characterised by personal wealth and greed with public squalor. Britain must give up its post-imperial pretensions and stop using military power to such catastrophic effect."
The campaigners who have launched the move online with the slogan #TakeUsWithYouScotland say: "The deliberations in Westminster are becoming increasingly irrelevant to the north of England.
"The needs and challenges of the north cannot be understood by the endless parade of old Etonians lining the front benches of the House of Commons. The north of England should join the newly independent Scotland and regain control over its own destiny."
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