5,000 ‘call for north of England to join Scotland’

MORE than 5,000 people have signed a petition calling for the north of England to ‘secede from the UK and join Scotland’.

By The Newsroom Tuesday, 12th May 2015, 2:44 pm

Liverpool is one of the cities that would become part of 'new Scotland'. Picture: Wiki Commons

A total of 5,396 people have signed a petition on Change.org in support of the north of England joining Scotland and ‘regaining control over its own destiny’.

Despite being created a year ago, during the throes of the Scottish independence campaign, the petition attracted a number of signatures following the Conservative Party’s win in last week’s general election.

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The petition states: “The deliberations in Westminster are becoming increasingly irrelevant to the north of England.

A version of the map, with the new Border outlined in red. Picture: Contributed

“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 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.

We, the people of the north, demand that in the event that Scotland becomes independent the border between England and the New Scotland be drawn along a line that runs between the River Dee and the mouth of The Humber.”

The Border between a ‘new Scotland’ and England would see the cities of Sheffield, Hull, Liverpool, Leeds and Preston all join the newly-created country.

One signatory, from Macclesfield, wrote: “Increasingly Westminster appears to be asking the ordinary people of this country to bail the country out of the mess that they and their rich buddies in the financial quarter of the city created.

“I want out and want to join a more sensible equal country government - if I can’t be European I’ll be Scottish.”

Another supporter added: “I have more in common with the Scots, than the Etonian-led Southerners who do not care what happens in the North.”

One person pointed out that the petition could bring up the topic of increased Northern representation.