Enfield North MP Nick de Bois pledged to help small businesses recruit in the borough when he met with trading campaigners.

Leaders of the Federation of Small Businesses invited the Conservative politician to back their campaign encouraging companies to take on young people.

In becoming a small business champion, traders hope Mr De Bois will be able to encourage managers to take on more skilled young people.

Senior development manager for north London Matthew Jaffa, said: “We want real life entrepreneurs working in apprenticeships in Enfield.

“We’re looking to work with Mr de Bois in the future and he seems very keen to help businesses take on staff and remove the bureaucracy and red tape surrounding employment.

“We were encouraged he has signed up to be a champion and hope he will help us create opportunities by making businesses aware of the benefits of taking on young entrepreneurs.”

During Friday’s meeting, business leaders in north London exchanged their own ideas on how to best encourage employment among smaller businesses.

Mr de Bois said: “It was a very positive meeting and a good exchange of ideas. My job was to support their entrepreneur scheme, but we also discussed working on a couple of joint ideas.

“These included working with employers to encourage hiring apprenticeships and using common business facilities to get young entrepreneurs off the ground. They came up with a lot of good ideas, which was refreshing to see.”