SHADOW cabinet minister Stephen O'Brien called for a shake-up of the business support system when he visited the region this week.

Mr O'Brien, the shadow secretary of state for industry, said the UK had developed a dependency culture in business that meant fewer people were taking risks.

He said: "The DTI should be structured in such a way that it provides information, and looks after liabilities such as nuclear decommissioning and yes, it should support some business support schemes.

"But what the DTI should be saying is, we are not good at running businesses at all.

"It is the business people that are good at running businesses and Parliamentarians should be seeking to get out of your way rather than being in your face."

Mr O'Brien was speaking at the Federation of Small Businesses' North-East annual dinner in Durham.

He said: "I am the only manufacturing industrialist in Parliament.

"Twenty years ago it was full of captains of industry, but now all your issues are not shared experiences in Parliament. I came to this meeting and thought that small businesses must look at politicians and wonder what planet they are on."

He urged a "rigorous review" of Government quangoes, which he said were set up merely to take the blame away from the ruling party.

"There is an increasing divorce between the experience of politicians and the business world," he said.