Middlesbrough and Redcar should be split from the North-East and handed over to Yorkshire, a local councillor said yesterday.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough councillor Chris Abbott said that if elected regional assemblies were created, the two areas should fall in with Yorkshire - not the North-East.

He said: "The current North-East and Yorkshire regional boundary runs through the middle of Staithes when the real and easily identifiable Yorkshire boundary - the river Tees - is only a few miles to the North."