“IF at first you don’t succeed try and try again.”

Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed she will ask for permission to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence to protect her country’s interests in the wake of the UK voting to quit the EU.

This comes two years after Scots voted to remain part of the UK in a referendum which the Scottish government defined as a “once in a generation” poll.

Ever since the Scottish devolution bid of the late 1970s, councils, MPs and business owners in the north of England have glanced nervously across the border.

If Scotland wins even greater powers and autonomy, and the economy of London and the South-East continues to accelerate way ahead of the North-East, we could find ourselves wedged between the rock of a Government that struggles to see beyond the M25 and the hard place of an emboldened economy to the north that competes head-on with our region for jobs and investment.

Scotland has already laid down plans to cut taxes such as airport duty that would make it cheaper to fly from Edinburgh and Glasgow than from Newcastle and Durham Tees.

As an area that brings its influence to bear on our nation’s politics it is fair to say that the North-East in 2017 looks increasingly isolated and its voice unheard. Theresa May’s cabinet, for example, consists overwhelmingly of MPs who serve southern constituencies, with Sir Michael Fallon, the former MP for Darlington, and Greg Clark, who was brought up on Teesside, giving us the vaguest of presences in the room where the big decisions are made.

Scotland is using the threat of devolution to get leverage with Mrs May.

The North-East needs to find its own bargaining chip that enables it to strike deals with Holyrood and Westminster or we risk even greater detachment from the seats of power.