More than 40,000 sign a petition for the north of England to join Scotland

Thousands of northerners are ready to break off from the rest of England and create a 'Northern Powerhouse' of their own by joining Scotland...

A petition imploring the UK Government to allow the north of England to secede with the Scots from the rest of the country has attracted over 40,000 signatures and counting. The plan splits north and south between the River Dee and the mouth of the Humber, and includes the likes of Hull, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle breaking away. Signatories are flocking in their thousands to add their names to the petition that claims "deliberations in Westminster are becoming increasingly irrelevant to the north of England." It argues that "northern cities feel far greater affinity with their Scottish counterparts such as Glasgow and Edinburgh than with the ideologies of the London-centric south."