Bradford businesses are being failed by a Government initiative to plug the £30 billion North-South divide, it was claimed today.

The Federation of Small Businesses, which has nearly 700 Bradford members, is lobbying MPs in a bid to get a better deal out of the Northern Way scheme.

The FSB said the John Prescott-led initiative needed to have a greater focus on how employment, entrepreneurship, business support, education, transport, planning and crime affected small firms.

The Northern Way is being co-ordinated by the three Northern Regional Develop-ment Agencies (RDAs) - Yorkshire Forward, One NorthEast and the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

Chris Glen, policy chairman of the FSB in Yorkshire added: "Small businesses (SMEs) employ nearly 60 per cent of the private sector workforce, so if the Northern Way wants to increase prosperity in the region, it must take on board many of the issues key to their ongoing success."

Bradford Chamber of Commerce's Sandy Needham said: "Money will be spent on areas we feel are important like transport and education."

Bradford businesses plan to meet with the Northern Way's steering group and the three regional agencies.

Simon Foy, chief economist at Yorkshire Forward said: "We wholeheartedly agree that SMEs are vital to the continued economic development of our region and the emergent Northern Way strategy needs to recognise this.

"Last year we made contact with over 80,000 regional businesses through our services and we will continue to take our role as an advocate for the importance of SMEs to the regional economy seriously."