A Fat Map of the UK shows North East England once again has high rates of obesity, with 9.7 per cent of people in the borough classed as overweight by their GP. Northumberland Care Trust tops the local league with 9.9 per cent.

The report's author claimed the real numbers could be even higher with the figures based on information from doctors.

And yesterday, the Conservatives said people had no excuse for being fat.

In a stinging attack, shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said fat people are often armed with a list of excuses to explain their size, with few prepared to take responsibility for their health.

In a speech entitled No Nannying, No Excuse, Mr Lansley said: "People need to know that the buck stops with them. They can't shuffle off the responsibility. This sounds hard bit it need not be."

Nationally the borough comes 24th, out of 189 PCTs, with the Shetlands being crowned as the most obese place to live in the UK.

Alex Young, senior project manager at Dr Foster Research, which put together the latest statistics, said the real figures are likely to be even higher.

"As these figures are put together based on which GPs return the information, we only have a limited picture.

"It once again shows the north east as having high rates of obesity, and if we knew all the cases it could be much worse.

"But people are often reluctant to go to their doctor when they are overweight and it can take some years before they appear on the list."

Prof Stephen Singleton, regional director of public health and medical director of the North East Strategic Health Authority, said he was determined to tackle the increasing problem of obesity in the region.

He added: "We intent to reverse this and to make significant progress in tackling this major health issue."

The figures are based on the number of patients with a Body Mass Index of 30 and above.

While the latest statistics show only those registered with their doctors, previous studies have shown that 20 per cent of North East adults are in fact overweight.