THE North-East is now the top region in England for the growth of new enterprises, a leading businessman has revealed.

Graham Robb, chair of the Institute of Directors North-East, said the region now had more than 150,000 businesses for the first time.

Mr Robb, who runs his Recognition public relations company in Darlington, was speaking at the institute's annual dinner held at Ramside Hall Hotel, Durham, last Thursday.

He said the region's business population grew by 12 per cent last year. Although still below the national average it was catching up with the UK average. "We used to have 633 businesses per 10,000 of population now the number is well over 700 per 10,000," he added.

Mr Robb said the need for even more more businesses of all sizes was the number one issue and making it easier to do business was key to the future.

"Anything that makes business easier will help strengthen our economy further," he said.

"Business wants and demands better transport links. Improvements to our road connections are underway but rail is critical too."

He said planned improvements to Darlington station would free up log jams on the East Coast line enabling more trains to run at more convenient times. Electrification from Middlesbrough to Northallerton was also a pressing issue.

He herald the fall in North-East unemployment – the most recent statistics showed there were 103,000 people out of work in the region – down 15,000 on the previous quarter and more people were employed than ever before – about 1.2m.

"In fact unemployment is falling here at the fastest rate of anywhere in the UK," Mr Robb said. Economic activity was also growing at the fastest rate of anywhere in the UK, he added.

Mr Robb said the percentage of public spending in the economy was set to fall to 35 per cent, which was about the same as Australia.

"The task of government is to spend its reducing resources on projects that generate wealth and ensure businesses can keep a ready supply of taxable profits. Generate it, tax it, and spend it – in that order.

Also speaking at the event was the Defence Secretary and former Darlington MP Michael Fallon who spoke about reforming the Ministry of Defence and the importance of defence contractors based in the North-East.