Having their own ridiculously-titled minister may not be enough for those living in the north of England.

More than 13,000 people have signed a Change.org petition for the north to secede from the south with a new border alongside the River Dee.

Under the proposals Birmingham Nottingham, Derby and Stoke-on-Trent would remain in England but Sheffield, Leeds Liverpool, Hull, and Preston would all be in Scotland.

"The deliberations in Westminster are becoming increasingly irrelevant to the north of England. The northern cities feel far greater affinity with their Scottish counterparts such as Glasgow and Edinburgh than with the ideologies of the London-centric south," the petitions says.

The Manchester Evening News reports the call was started by Sheffield-based Stu Dent. There is also a Twitter hashtag #takeuswithyouScotland, which has seen more than 17,000 messages in the last week. One tongue-in-cheek signatory added his name to the petition with the message: "Please include Birmingham."