A new EU proposal could see Britons face legal action for uploading photos of famous UK landmarks onto personal websites or Facebook pages.

The move to end "Freedom of Panorama" - enshrined in British copyright law since 1911 - has been blasted as "idiotic" by Wirral Euro MP Paul Nuttall.

Public works of art such as Liverpool's Superlambananas and Antony Gormley's Iron Men statues at Crosby may need to be blacked out in holiday snaps to avoid breaching the copyright of artists.

And in a bizarre twist, even Wirral's spectacular view of the Liverpool waterfront could come into the sights of European legislators - but only at night!

This is because snapping the waterfront with the intention of distributing the image might violate copyright held by designers of any nocturnal illuminations.

Members of the public would only be able to upload the photographs with prior consent.

Panorma restrictions already exist in some member states of the EU, including France, Belgium and Italy.

But in an attempt to harmonise copyright law, Brussels could extend this to the UK as early as next month.

Mr Nuttall, Ukip deputy leader, said, "This would end up being another example of unintended consequences which frequently happens when the EU passes laws.

"It is idiotic and would mean that visitors would not be able to snap views of the Iron Men and other famous works and use them commercially if they so wanted.

"This attempt to restrict the Freedom of Panorama strikes at the root of our liberties.

"It will destroy an explicit British freedom guaranteed in our copyright legislation for more than 100 years.

"Art and photography are valuable because of their intrinsic freedom. Freedom is constantly undermined by the European Union as we have seen time and time again."

The full European Parliament will be voting on the controversial measure on July 9.