AN Edmonton MP as hit out at the Government for overlooking London when handing out £950m of monies to help businesses grow.

Twenty-three bids from the capital were made to the Regional Growth Fund, but yesterday it was announced that none of them had been successful as money was divided across the rest of the country.

Among the shunned bids was a joint effort from the councils in Haringey, Enfield, Hackney, Islington, and Waltham Forest, to transform the Upper Lea Valley into a business gateway for London.

Andy Love, Labour MP for Edmonton, said the news is “very disappointing”, but added he is not too surprised given the Government's stance on helping businesses.

He said: “In my view, London got overlooked when it came to the Regional Growth Fund bids.

“There is definitely a view within the Government that difficulties the fund is supposed to address somehow don't exist in Greater London.

“I'm very disappointed, but perhaps not surprised because of the way the whole bidding process was structured.

"It was made pretty clear that, although they couldn't stop London from bidding, it wasn't going to get priority over other parts of the country.”

Had the bid been approved, deprived parts of Edmonton and Tottenham would have received a major boost as incentives were laid down for major businesses to bring jobs to the area.

Part of the bid was to dramatically improve transport links serving the area, which would encourage bluechip firms to locate in the Upper Lea Valley knowing they had good access to central London.

Mr Love added: “I have a strong plea to the Government, not to ignore the teal difficulties communities like mine in Edmonton are going through.

“Unemployment is almost 11 per cent, and all the evidence suggests at best the economy is flat-lining and unemployment will continue to rise in areas like mine.

“There is an overwhelmingly strong case for action to be taken, whether it is through the growth fund or other ways.”