NORTH-EAST business leaders have urged the Chancellor to back apprenticeships and encourage firms to buy British, in next weeks Autumn Statement.

On Tuesday, George Osborne will deliver his interim Budget amid a worsening economic outlook and demands to restore confidence and boost growth.

Testing economic conditions have led to high expectations as to how the Chancellor will reform tax and businesses regulations to combat flat growth and high unemployment.

Steve Grant, Managing Director of Middlesbrough-based TTE Technical Training Group wants to see companies handed greater financial incentives to recruit apprentices. "There is no shortage of young people who want to become apprentices, but, even in these tough times, businesses need to look beyond the short-term. Investing in apprenticeships now will ensure industry has a strong pool of available skilled workers in the future," he said.

"The manufacturing industry in unemployment blackspots, like the North-East also needs more support, especially in terms of creating the jobs required to secure the future of industry in the region. "Its all about return on investment. Clearly the UK has a deficit, but investment now will stimulate industry and provide employment, which is more cost effective than long-term unemployment."

Neil Stephenson, chief executive of Middlesbrough-headquartered Onyx Group offered Mr Osborne some no-nonsense advice, when he said: "I would like to see the 50p tax scrapped. It raises no money and sends out the wrong signals to the rest of the world. Scrapping it would stimulate the economy."

For George Rafferty, Chief Executive of NOF Energy, the business development organisation, the emphasis should be on the UK supply chain.

"I would be particularly keen to seen incentives to encourage oil & gas and renewables operators to further utilise British suppliers for their developments in UK waters," he said.

"Ensuring there is sufficient UK content in these developments is a major issue for the supply chain. "If we can keep a proportion of the supply chain requirements for these projects in the UK, not only will it create jobs and investment, but it will deliver increased tax revenues for the public purse."

Paul Davison, commercial director of Middlesbrough-based Teesside Insurance, said a boost for the beleaguered building trade should be made a priority.

"As a privately-owned business based in the North-East, the vast majority of our wide-ranging client base has been affected by the recession. It is quite evident that significant construction and infrastructure investment by the government would help business on a national and regional basis. It is a fact that if the construction industry is strong, this strength cascades down to many other business sectors," he explained.

"As a business-to-business specialist insurance broker, we would welcome such investment, as this would certainly have a positive effect on our own business. In the insurance sector, we rely totally on our clients being successful. Without them, we do not have a business."

Dominic Gardner, finance director of road repair specialists Velocity, in Sunderland said: "Wed like the Chancellor to reconsider plans to slash the Annual Investment Allowance for businesses from 100,000 to just 25,000.

"Were investing heavily in a fleet of new road repair vehicles and this policy change will have serious financial repercussions for businesses like ours that are trying to invest and expand. In addition, wed ask the government to free more funds for local authorities to invest in road maintenance. Last years much-publicised 100m fighting fund didnt seem to feed through."