IN THE region of 38,000 people have now signed a petition calling for UK borders to be redrawn and the North of England to become “New Scotland”.

The change.org petition calling for the North to be allowed to break free from the rest of the UK was drawn up during the Scottish Independence referendum a year ago.

But over the last few days it has gained a new momentum over social media – driven mainly by people disappointed with the election outcome as a post-election joke.

The hashtag “TakeUsWithYouScotland” quickly caught on over the weekend on Twitter and lead to the petition gaining just short of 37,600 signatures by Sunday afternoon.

The petition calls on the government to allow the north of England to secede from the UK and join Scotland. It suggests the map of England be redrawn with the area of Northern England between the River Humber and the River Dee becoming “New Scotland”.

Newcastle, Durham, Middlesbrough, York, Sheffield and Liverpool would all become Scottish.

It was drawn up by a Sheffield resident and states that the north of England felt greater affinity with their Scottish counterparts than with the ideologies of a London-centric south. It added: “The needs and challenges of the north cannot be understood by the endless parade of old Etonions lining the frontbenches of the House of Commons.”

It adds: “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.”

Gareth Shanks, secretary of the Yorkshire Devolution Movement, an organisation calling for a directly elected regional assembly for Yorkshire, said the petition had tapped into disenchantment with London-based politics.

“There is a clear feeling of abandonment by Westminster and who can blame them? With the way that Yorkshire has been ignored for years by a centralised government which gives little regard to the issues faces by Yorkshire,” he said.

“The only real way to address this balance is to give the people of Yorkshire a real chance to decide their future, Yorkshire has the potential to be something special yet London restricts us.

“Give us a regional assembly and let us decide our future.

“Failing that I suppose we can be Southern Scotland.”

The call has also been taken up by Scottish Nationalists on Twitter, who made it clear the North would be welcome to join them, whilst others called for the ancient kingdom of Northumbria to be revived.