Former TV presenter and recently-elected MEP Robert Kilroy-Silk has called on North-East voters to reject plans for a regional assembly.
Mr Kilroy-Silk, who successfully stood for the UK Independence Party in June's European elections, said the proposed assembly would undermine the English nation.
Mr Kilroy-Silk said: "It is being imposed by John Prescott, who seems to have been duped by the EU into implementing its plans to undermine the English nation and the English identity by dividing it into administrative regions, which will be less powerful in the EU than England is now. "This is all part of the European project to destroy the nation-state".
Mr Kilroy-Silk, speaking during campaigning ahead of the Hartlepool by-election, added: "If voters in the North East say 'No', they will help to maintain the unity of England which set up the world's first Parliament over 800 years ago.
"The English need one Parliament to represent them, not nine".
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