POLITICIANS have dismissed proposals that could see the North-East twinned with parts of Germany, Holland and Denmark.

A team of cartographers is drawing up a version of the political map of Europe, taking advantage of a proposed Brussels directive.

It is feared the directive, which is passing through the European Parliament, could allow a United States of Europe to be created, obliterating the British map.

Under the plans, people living in much of the East of England, including the North-East and North Yorkshire, would find themselves inhabitants of a North Sea region.

They would share a home with inhabitants of parts of Germany, the Low Countries and southern Scandinavia.

The South-East would be neighbours with northern France while parts of Scotland would become the North Atlantic region with Iceland and northern Scandinavia.

Ireland and western England would become a huge Atlantic zone with parts of France, Spain and Portugal.

North-East MEP Stephen Hughes said: "I would not want anyone drawing up a new map of Europe. I would be the first to vote against any new map."

The draft outlines have been condemned by the Conservatives as a tool to dismantle separate European nation states.

Eric Pickles, the Shadow Minister for Local Government, said: "I fear that there is an agenda to undermine national identities and impose a United States of Europe by stealth."