A drive to rid the North-East of its record as the worst region in the UK for basic skills such as reading and counting was launched.

The North-East has the poorest figures for illiteracy and innumeracy in Britain. Around 400,000 adults - more than a quarter of the population - do not have the reading, writing and basic maths skills necessary to cope at work or with day to day life.

Get On North East, launched at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, aims to lift the region from its place at the bottom of the literacy and numeracy league tables.

It follows a poor response from people in the region to the Government's national advertising campaign, featuring people with no basic skills plagued by reading and writing "Gremlins".

Jonathan Blackie, Government Office for the North East regional director, said: "Our low attainment in these essential skills impacts on our competitiveness in the global economy and locks many communities, families and individuals into cycles of deprivation, poverty, exclusion, crime and ill health that ultimately affect us all.

"Better literacy, numeracy and English language skills are a fundamental step on the road to creating a more prosperous region with a better quality of life for all our people."

At present, 28 per cent of the region's adult population has counting and reading or writing difficulties - 4pc higher than the national average.

Experts believe this costs a typical business employing 50 people around £80,000 a year.

Of the 400,000 people in the North-East with basic skills needs, half are roughly split between jobs in the private and public sectors. The other half are unemployed.

East Durham has the worst figures in the whole of the North-East. In Easington District, more than 30pc of adults have literacy needs and more than a third have problems with numbers.

The Prime Minister's own constituency of Sedgefield is also among the worst in the region, with the district recording more than 28pc of adults with literacy needs and more than 30pc with numeracy issues.

The initiative aims to bring the region in line with the national average for numeracy and literacy within three years. It is being backed by 70 organisations, including the CBI and the Trades Union Congress (TUC).