ANY early Government selloff of Northern Rock or its stake in other banks would be “disastrous”, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said yesterday.

Mr Cable told the Local Government Association annual conference he did not know whether a report that the supermarket chain Tesco could launch a bid for Northern Rock was true. But he told delegates: “It’s very clear that they (the Government) want the banks off their hands as quickly as possible. In the current context, this would be absolutely disastrous.” Mr Cable told representatives of local authorities across England and Wales the experience of other countries was that Governments often had to retain control of banks for up to ten years in these circumstances before they got a return on the investment.

HIGH PROFILE: Teesside company Profile Analysis has been named runner-up to Blackberry in a global technology awards scheme.

The business was second in the messaging application: business category of the Global Messaging Awards for its i-snapshot technology which has been developed to allow a salesforce to update their progress via a coded SMS message.

LOCAL LEGENDS: A search to find the North-East’s favourite small businesses, which have been a driving force in a community for years, has been launched.

The Local Legends search has been launched by small business.co.uk website and insurers insurantz.com to find traders and businesses that have survived economic turbulence. Visit small business.co.uk NEW ROLE: HSBC Commercial Banking has appointed Mark Vines to the newly-created position of North-East and North Yorkshire commercial director, to provide support for small businesses. Mr Vines is one of seven newlyappointed regional commercial directors across the UK. He leads the 290- strong commercial banking team in the region, which includes ten area commercial directors.

UNPAID TIME: Employees in the North-East are often working the equivalent of a six-day week as the recession takes its toll, according to research from BT Business.

In the survey, 51 per cent of people said they have worked more than seven extra hours each week since the financial crisis began, with 34 per cent saying they feel more stressed. A further 37 per cent of people said that poor technology and work systems are contributing further to their workplace stress.